Craic On

Martin Farren

As we know the shore walk collapsed after the storms on the morning of the 3rd of January. I wondered whether anyone was doing anything about it.

After all, the White Wall in Bath Green fell down and the bricks and stones lay there for over a year before it was fixed. Also, the Greencastle end of the shore walk remained closed for years even well after the breakwater project had been abandoned for lack of funds.

The Putting Green remained shut for a generation before being rescued and reopened a few years ago.

Would the same thing happen with the shore walk path? Would it just lie and lie there waiting for funds that never came and for someone to spring into action and do something?

Councillor Farren

So, I called Councillor Martin Farren to find out if anything had been, or was being, done. He filled me in on what was happening.

There’s a budget meeting of the Council in Lifford on Monday. Martin decided that immediate action needed to be taken and that it couldn’t wait for the council offices to open back up again on Monday.

Action

He called the Donegal Council Roads Manager, John McLaughlin, on Friday night. Martin pointed him towards the CraicOn article Moville’s Shore Walk destroyed by storms  to see the damage done. He decided that it couldn’t wait and he needed to come and assess the damage ASAP.

Martin was pleased that not only John took the call whilst out of hours but that he agreed to come to Moville for a meeting with Martin on Saturday morning.

Delighted

Said Martin “I was delighted that he took time to come and see the damage. We spent about an hour and a half walking along the shore to see exactly the damage done.

“John agreed that it was high priority.

“He indicated that he will seek a report from two senior engineers from Inishowen to properly assess the damage and what needs to be done to fix it as well as the costs and the timeframe involved”.

ASAP

Martin said that it is was imperative that we get the shore walk fixed as quickly as possible not only because it is Moville’s main attraction for visitors but also for local people here many of whom enjoy a shore walk daily or every so often.

Said Martin “It is absolutely crucial that we get it fixed. I’m making it my top priority. I’m delighted by the help and support I’ve got so far from the council on both this issue and on other issues. I’ve found them amazingly helpful.

Top Priority

“We can’t put a date on it till the senior engineers make an assessment but I intend to stay on top of it to make sure that it gets fixed as soon as possible. There is nothing that I’m doing that is higher priority than this”.

That sounds like good news. Thousands of people all over the world have been looking in on CraicOn to find out what has been happening with the shore path in the storm. Moville has many friends throughout the world. Perhaps this will give them grounds for hope.

Fair play to Martin. He tends to be proactive over these things and it was good to see that both he and the senior roads manager at the Council were already on the job and saw it as so important that they interrupted their weekend to take action.

That’s a good start!