Ring tells NPWS to ‘lay off’ paper work

Ring tells NPWS to ‘lay off’ the paper work on coastal restoration


Anton McNulty

The National Parks and Wildlife Service has been told to ‘lay off’ the paper work and allow Mayo County Council to carry out restoration works along the county’s coastline.
The rebuke of the state agency came not from an opposition spokesperson but from a government minister, Michael Ring, who warned that livelihoods would be at risk if the majority of the restoration works was not completed before the start of this summer’s busy tourism season.
The Minister of State for Sport and Tourism told The Mayo News that the Council was ready to start the restoration work and will have the work completed by the start of June if given the go ahead. Minister Ring called for the NPWS to allow the work to go ahead and to ensure it did not get bogged down by paper work.
“A person’s livelihood is more important than the fauna,” he said. “I have written and spoken to Jimmy Dennihan, and I’m calling on the National Parks and Wildlife Service to lay off the paper work and allow this work to be done. This will have a huge effect on people’s livelihoods and jobs if this work is not allowed to be done. This is people’s livelihoods and they cannot survive on half a season. There will be nobody to hand out their wages to them, they have to make it themselves.”
Much of the Mayo coastline was seriously damaged over the winter by a combination of high winds and high tides, which resulted in roads and pavements being ripped up, bridges being washed away and many beaches being covered in rocks and stones.
Minister Ring explained that €62 million was given nationally by the Government, with Mayo County Council receiving around €7 million to carry out restoration work along the coast.
“This was the worst storm in 100 years and the work has to be done; it cannot be delayed by nonsense. This is not new work which is to be done, it is only restoring the damage done by the storm,” he said.
Two of the worst affected beaches were Bertra and Mulranny. The carpark of Bertra beach was completely ripped away. Ring explained that the work on Bertra will take time, but that he hoped it would be partly reopened soon, and that the work at the two locations would be finished by the end of June.
He added that when the initial work is completed, the Government will sit down with the local authority to assess what level of extra funding will be needed for additional works.