The Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company has moved to quell the row over the £18 marina project by issuing a guarantee that the Coal Harbour boatyard will continue to be run for the public.
Mr Michael Hanahoe, chief executive of the harbour company, said in a statement yesterday the company wished to ensure that the rights of users were protected within the new development.
The harbour company has agreed that existing users, including tenants of the boatyard, will continue to have the same rights of access. The statement followed a meeting with Marina Marketing and Management Ltd, the contractors for the £18 million project, who are due to take over control of the Coal Harbour boatyard from next March. However, the Coal Harbour Users' Group (CHUG) has said it is still opposed to privatisation of the coal harbour per se, and has asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Mr Fahey, to halt the transfer.
The harbour company has promised that charges for storage of dinghies and other boats less than 18 feet long will remain "constant", and will only be adjusted in accordance with the annual inflation rate. "This pricing arrangement will apply to over 90 per cent of the boats currently stored in the boatyard," Mr Hanahoe said. "Storage charges for harbour boats will be competitive with rates charged by other storage facilities in the harbour."
The harbour company has confirmed that construction work on the public slipway in the boatyard has been completed, to allow for easier access. Work on widening the public slipway in the old harbour has begun, and will be finished by the end of the year. Construction work on the marina's eastern breakwater is due to be finished in January, and this "will allow public access to the centre of the harbour for the first time," Mr Hanahoe said.
Mr Tim Magennis, spokesman for CHUG, said the group was opposed to the harbour company's decision to hand over "the last remaining access to Dublin Bay" to a commercial concern. CHUG intends to meet the Minister on foot of a resolution passed at a public meeting it held in Dun Laoghaire last month. CHUG representatives intend to mount a picket outside the Dail in Kildare Street, Dublin, this evening, and will also picket the harbour company's office in Dun Laoghaire.
