Council to monitor use of moorings

CLARE County Council are opposed to the installation of boat moorings on the Shannon Estuary in Kilbaha Bay and Kildysart until they establish the extent of usage of similar facilities in Labasheeda and Carrigaholt.

At the May meeting of the six Kilrush Electoral Area county councillors, Councillors Oliver Garry and Gabriel Keating suggested that visitor mooring bays be installed in Kildysart and Kilbaha.

In reply, Cyril Feeney, senior executive engineer, said the local authority would keep a close eye on the extent of usage of recently installed moorings in Labasheeda and Carrigaholt.
“It is our intention to monitor the use of these moorings over the next 12 months in order to assess the viability of the project. Therefore, we believe it is premature to install any further moorings until such time as this exercise is complete. The installation of any further moorings would also be subject to sufficient funding being available,” Mr Feeney pointed out.

Councillor Garry said leisure boating has increased considerably along the Shannon Estuary.
“We’ve two major marinas in Kilrush and in Foynes. People use the Shannon Estuary for leisure boating but a lot of boat users can’t pull into these areas because there isn’t the facilities to moor their craft. Furthermore, an awful lot of people have been turned away from Cahercon Pier in Kildysart because the ladder is gone. They can anchor right at the pier. It is a fine pier but nobody can use it now because of the lack of access to it,” the Kildysart Fine Gael county councillor told the meeting.

“When moorings are installed, there should be a service contract for them. The service contract would be very important because they are anchored out in deep water where the boat can’t be damaged,” he added.

“I would like to see the director of services include these items on our things to do in 2013 and 2014. At least if we put it on the agenda, we’ll get to it,” Councillor Keating commented.