Sir, - The formation of CHUG (The Coal Harbour Users' Group), referred to by Lorna Siggins, your Marine Correspondent (The Irish Times, June 3rd) to oppose moves to hand over long-standing public property to an out-and-out commercial concern is not the first occasion of local boat-owners' action in defence of their rights.
In the late 1980s an attempt at a commercial takeover of the coal harbour of Dun Laoghaire for a privately owned marina was foiled by the successful Harbour Watch protest splendidly led by Dr John De Courcy Ireland and the local TD Eamon Gilmore. Now the prospect looms of another generation of protesters acting to ensure continuing public rights to the harbour and its boatyard, handed over in prime condition to Irish citizenry by the departing British authorities in 1922.
The harbour and its boatyard are used not only by small boat-owners but by a growing fleet of fishermen currently harvesting local whelks for export to France as well as by long-standing local rowing clubs, diving clubs, sailing schools, canoeing clubs, etc. CHUG also represents the interests of countless folk including casual strollers, occasional painters and people with a close affinity with the sea, in addition to a popular shop selling fish fresh from the sea - hence the specific use of "users" in CHUG's title.
In a Dun Laoghaire harbour scene suffering from - no, smothered by - massive ferry port development and spacious yacht clubs, the coal harbour and its boatyard represent, as Lorna Siggins rightly observes, the last public access to Dublin Bay. Therein lies its significance and its huge importance to the public at large.
Restriction of access for security reasons, as Mr Tom Power suggests, would be the thin end of a particularly threatening wedge. After that, what? Eventual total takeover, you may be sure. And the key never again in the public pocket.
CHUG stands for the preservation and renewal of this open public facility in perpetuity a facility, by the way, suffering from prolonged neglect and deprivation and now at last being attended to. CHUG fully supports the £18 million marina in the main harbour, but urges all official bodies, semi-States and development companies to leave the coal harbour and its lovely old boatyard alone. - Yours, etc.,
Tim Magennis, Chug supporter, Springhill Park, Killiney, Co Dublin.