Pontoons key to developing blue amenity around Blacksod Bay

The Head of Marine in Mayo County Council says that the development of pontoons around Blacksod Bay will be the key to developing marine leisure in the region.

Michael O'Boyle, Senior Executive Engineer and Head of Marine told members of the Westport/Belmullet Municipal District that he is in favour of developing pontoons at locations around Blacksod Bay following the success of the new pontoon at Dugort Pier on Achill Island.

The pontoon was installed at Dugort Pier in August and despite poor weather during the month it was deemed a huge success with boats able to dock by it and bring people on trips around Blacksod Bay.

Mr O'Boyle said the region has huge potential and he would be in favour of more pontoons to be located at other piers.

“That initiative [pontoon] is key in Achill and Belmullet where we want to put in pieces of infrastructure which are light touch and get access around Belmullet and Achill.

“The whole area inside Achill and up to Blacksod and into Belmullet has a huge blue amenity there and we are currently working on plans. We have done a number of presentations and reports which I am happy to share with you. It is a very important and key initiative for marine leisure in Mayo,” he said.

The meeting heard that funding for maintenance for piers and harbours increased to bring the funding to pre-crash level of spending which Mr O'Boyle said would mean more projects could be undertaken.

“The big story this year is we had quite a substantial increase in our maintenance budget which was very much a sore issue. The maintenance budget up to now in relation to marine was so small that you could not programme anything and it was fire fighting. We are getting back to a level now where we were pre the crash in terms of our piers and harbours maintenance which is very important for local small issues which can be quite frustrating for councillors. It is making life a lot easier and we can give a better service for those small issues which are frustrating for operators,” he said, however, he later added that there are so many piers and harbours that a larger budget is also needed.

Erris based councillor Seán Carey asked the council to look at the feasibility of a ferry from Achill to Blacksod while Achill councillor Paul McNamara raised the importance of developing Purteen Harbour on Achill Island.

“A lot of the outer walls are badly damaged and if funding is not secured in the immediate future a storm could put pay to the harbour being used. If the outer walls fall into the channel it could completely block it up and the harbour would be closed,” Cllr McNamara said while adding Purteen is used by both commercial fishermen and tourists.

The meeting heard that extensive surveys were carried out on Purteen almost 20 years ago and Mr O'Boyle said the plan for it is to consolidate what was done and bring reports up to date and look to apply for funding.

“There has been talk of new marine schemes coming into place in the life of the next government. Hopefully we will be in a position both for Westport Quay and Purteen and individual projects to move forward because they are badly needed along the coastline,” he said.