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Crowds Gather in Clogherhead louth |
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 Friday May 18, 2007 18:23 by Sean Crudden - Greenore-Cooley Fisherman's Association sean.crudden at iol dot ie Jenkinstown, Dundalk, Co Louth. 087 9739945
 The Great and The Good Congregate The Minister for Communications, Marine, Energy and Natural Resources, Mr Noel Dempsey TD, visited Clogherhead today to perform at 2.30 p.m. the official opening of the refurbished Port Oriel harbour.
The refurbished harbour features a 105m mass concrete quay. "It's storm-proof," an engineer friend of mine asserted. There is also a fine auction shed just to the landward side of the pier and a fine public toilet which I found useful not just for the usual reason but also because it provided shelter from a sudden shower which was quite wetting driven as it was by a strong breeze.
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Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6Every sitting TD in Louth was present including Fergus O'Dowd. The county manager, Martina Maloney, was absent due to pressure of official business but her predecessor John Quinlivan was present.
Arthur Morgan TD
The lifeboatmen were there. They set off two flares one each at significant moments of the ceremony.
Dermot Ahern TD
The first flare falls to earth.
When the tape was cut the crowd were invited to go ahead and view the pier at close quarters.
It was gratifying to see retired members of Louth county council in the crowd including John McConville. His daughter Jacqui (Clogherhead) is a current member of the council. Some retired officials were also conspicuous.
Padraic Fallon who recently retired as county engineer for Louth poses co-operatively for the camera.
There were many children and young people in the crowd - witnessing a historic day in their community.
Two pipers provided the music.
The plaque unveiled tells the story.
Tommy Reilly MCC, Dromiskin, on the left and his friend Nicholas McCabe, Ardee, a former county councillor and former chairman of Louth county council.
Noel Dempsey was immaculately dressed, composed and in good humour. He made no fuss when I asked him to pose for the camera with one or two people at the end of the pier.
Michael Curran, director of the community and enterprise section of Louth county council pictured with Nicholas McCabe and Padraic Fallon after the opening and after the shower.
Jacqui McConville the county councillor from Clogherhead pictured at the end of the pier with Noel Dempsey who performed the opening.
Paddy Donnelly senior executive officer in the infrastructure section of Louth county council pictured with the minister. Paddy was MC for the opening. On the right is James Neary, Dromiskin, a commander with the civil defence.
The police were watching and LMFM were there too.
James Dolan, Clogherhead, pictured inside taking shelter from the brief shower which fell as the crowd retreated from the pier.
Piloting a scheme of public works like this to completion is no mean task and all those involved obviously felt a degree of self-satisfaction at a considerable and long-lasting achievement.
There was at least on Jaguar in the car-park!
Paddy Donnelly pleased with a job well done. Paddy is a former pupil of Dundalk vocational school and a past pupil of mine.
God bless all our lifeboat crews who risk their lives in all weathers - please give them your support as best you can.
The work of lifeboat crews pictured above is to be commended. However, we should spare a thought for the future victims of another growing hazard on the Irish Sea, the most heavily poluted sea in the world due to Selafield and other nuclear powerstations, nuclear storage facilities and nuclear weapons.
The decision by Tony Blair to leave his mark on history by approving the building of more nuclear powerstations will turn the Irish Sea into a nuclear cess-pit.