The Minister for Community, Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív TD, will visit Clare Island and Inishturk today. On Inishturk, he will turn the first sod to mark the official commencement of work on the pier extension and he will officially open the new water supply. He will then go to Clare Island to turn the first sod on works for the new pier on the island.
This work is urgently needed in order to provide more efficient and safer access between these islands and the mainland. The development will also assist in the growth of the tourism and fishing industries. There are 72 inhabitants on Inishturk and 127 on Clare Island.
The Minister announced in December 2003 that he had sanctioned a grant of €11.604m for Mayo County Council to develop these piers. The work to be carried out on Inishturk pier will cost approximately €2m and the work on Clare Island pier will cost approximately €10m. Mayo County Council will pay the balance of the cost of the work on both islands; approximately €382,000.
Announcing this grant, Minister Ó Cuív stated that this was the largest investment made in island infrastructure for some time and that it brought to nearly €14m the amount he has approved for ferry piers serving these two islands in 2003/04, when the grant of €1.75m approved by him in 2003 for the mainland pier at Roonagh is taken into account.
Regarding the new water supply on Inishturk, that work was completed at a cost of nearly €0.5m with funding from CLÁR, Mayo County Council and the Island Development Fund of the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.
Tue, 20 Apr 2004 00:00:00 BST