A Difficult Berth #1,327

The cheek

t’s been a ridiculously long and winding road to try and secure a berthing spot for fisherman Ivan Toole and his friends down at Greystones harbour.

Over the years, we’ve covered protest after protest, emergency meeting after emergency meeting, shared some sage advice, sage solutions, the harbour master’s side of the story, Cllr Derek Mitchell’s side, and witnessed the Bed-In For Plaice, false finales and false new dawns.

Bernard Gallagher

All tracing back to 2008, of course, and an agreed berthing spot for fishing boats on the new marina plans that somehow mysteriously vanished just as the bulldozers pulled into town.

Still, the 14 years of fussing and fighting might now be coming to some kind of conclusion, thanks to a Ivan and beleaguered harbour Bernard Gallagher master facing off in Dublin’s High Court yesterday. Where everyone agreed to meet up again for a special seating next Thursday.

From what we’ve heard, the fishermen are now allowed to land their catch and collect bait in the mornings, and tie their boat up at the marina. Until next Thursday’s sitting comes up with a more permanent decision.

In the four weeks leading up to the yesterday’s court date, Bernard reportedly issued Ivan and co with 25 €75 fines for parking their van beside their vessel for loading and

Storey & friend

unloading.

Fisherman Tim Storey has been landed with a €30,000 bill from BJ Marine for services he insists were either never used or weren’t provided. And Tim is willing to go to the courts to fight it, his wife Laurel arguing that the Greystones fishermen have been left high and dry by Wicklow County Council and Sisk, who operate the new marina in a public/private partnership.

So, good to see that peace, love and understanding is still uppermost on the agenda here.

As much as it’s hard to pin anything down when everything’s still up in the air, it’s certainly baffling that those with millions at stake in the marina can’t quite see the commercial sense of injecting a little John Hinde by allowing this old fishing tradition back into Greystones. Who doesn’t want to wake up in the early hours of morning, pull back the curtains and witness hardy fishermen starting their long day’s work out at sea?

Especially when it’s pissing down outside.

So, once again, here’s to egos retreating and common sense prevailing, and the new Greystones harbour being given a much-needed old lease of life.