Courage award winners victims of two year dispute over lease on new building

Achill heroes left in a shed


Courage award winners victims of two year dispute over lease on new building

Anton McNulty

THE Achill Coast Guard, who were presented with a National Courage Award last week, have been forced to work out of rented accommodation with no proper facilities because a legal dispute and red tape have prevented them moving into their newly-built state-of-the-art headquarters.
Last week, the crew of the Achill Coast Guard were described as heroes after they were awarded with a the prestigious National Courage Award for their role in the rescue of a 53-year-old angler, who slipped from the rocks and fell into the Atlantic. However, while their new state-of-the-art facilities located in Achill Sound remains unoccupied - despite being completed two years ago - the crew of the Achill Coast Guard have been forced to continue to work out of rented accommodation with no proper heating or changing facilities.
“There is some sort of on-going legal dispute which has to be resolved before we will be allowed to move into the building,” Noreen Sweeney, Deputy Officer in Charge of the Achill Coast Guard told The Mayo News. “We have been on to our local politicians without any success and while the fire service moved into their part of the building in the Spring of 2008, we remain situated in a cold shed with a dimplex heater to keep us warm. We have no showers or toilets in our rented accommodation but all of those are in the new station doing nothing.
“All the paper work has to be kept at my home because it will get damp otherwise. Sometimes we have to have our meetings in Ted Lavelle’s pub because the facilities are totally inadequate to hold first aid, refresher or map reading courses. The new headquarters has a special room for drying our dry suits while we are still using a dimplex heater for that.”
The new building, which also contains the new Achill Fire Station, was completed at a cost of approximately €2million in 2007 in a co-funded project involving Mayo County Council, the Department of the Environment and the Department of Transport - who have responsibility for the Coast Guard.
The Fire Brigade moved into their part of the building in Spring of 2008 but The Mayo News have been told that a technicality regarding leasing arrangements prevents the Coast Guard moving into the building.
Mr Peter Hynes, Director of Services for the Achill region told The Mayo News that the file is with the Chief State Solicitor and they were anxious that the Coast Guard move into the building as soon as possible.
“There are issues relating to the lease which are being resolved between the Chief State Solicitors’s office and Mayo County Council. We are very anxious that the issue of the lease will be resolved speedily so the building can be used for the purposes for which it was built. We obviously would have preferred if it had been resolved more quickly but it is being worked at and hopefully will be resolved shortly,” he said.
Patrick Williamson, who hails from Sutton Coldfield near Birmingham, nominated the Achill Coast Guard for the award after they rescued him from the water last August. He said he owed his life to the Achill Coast Guard and was horrified to hear they had a state-of-the-art building which they could not move into, and called for it to be resolved.
“The Coast Guard are a credit to the community and I find it outrageous that their new building has been allowed to stay empty for nearly two years. They have no proper facilities until they are allowed to move into this new building but they are still expected to risk their lives to help people like me who get into trouble,“ he said.
Following last week’s award ceremony, members of the Coast Guard went to Dáil Éireann where they raised the issue with local politicians. Fine Gael TD, Michael Ring said he would be raising the issue in the Dáil to get it resolved.
“This situation is an absolute disgrace when you think of all the good work the Coast Guard volunteers have done down through the years. They have a state-of-the-art station lying idle for the last two years and they have not been able to move into it. I will be bringing this up in the Dáil next week and I will be demanding to know why this has been allowed to drag on,” he said.
Local councillor Micheál McNamara said this issue should be resolved by now and hoped the Coast Guard’s award will help speed up the process.