Dunmore East harbour falling into decay and ruins. Shame.

Master and commander

I always thought dunmore was a lovely village but i was down there today walking around the harbour and i noticed that the whole harbour/fishery area seemed to be falling into ruins. So many of the buildings are now derelict and unkemp and one has started to fall down.
I would say almost half of the buildings in the harbour area are in varying states of decay or else just abandoned.

- 2+ factory/industrial builings on the right on hill down into the harbour, closed up abandoned
- old ice plant/office at end of hill more or less derelict
- fishery industrial buildings near new ice plant boarded up and derelict
- 1 industrial building at rear of adventure centre boat shop, about half of the roof has collapsed in on it.

to add to that, the level of litter and general rubbish that has been casually thrown about is discraceful. (The fisherpersons are the main culprits i suspect). There is also a safety concern here as there is often lengths of discarded and splintered steel cable left thrown about for ages and sundry objects and scrap.

This contrasts with the lovely RNLI station and the other pleasing buildings in the area. I feel it makes a very bad impression to have so many derelict, grubby and almost collapsing buildings.
I think at least if the buildings cannot be made useful, then at least some very basic maintenance should be carried out to at least take the "halting site" look off the area.
I'm talking maybe a coat of paint to the visible building facades, and removing vegetation from rooves and gutters. A more coherent waste management plan would also not go astray, so as to reduce the current level of what could be most accrately described as fly tipping - seriously, up behins the old ice plant is a shambles. The harbour master should get a grip on things more and try to get the place in some sort of order.

It would not cost anything to make sure that the skippers of the boats tidied things up after themselves, instead of just dumping suff whereever they finish using it.

Master and commander

add a few decaying rusting boats to the mix and you have a right bollox mess

mike65

Does Dunmore East have a fleet any more?

Master and commander

yes it does have a fleet, but i imagine that it is much reduced from what it once was. The largest vessel based there is Creadan Lady, which is a mussle dredger that was built in 2001.

But anyway the place looks a right mess these days and should be cleaned up a bit.

Tim the Enchanter

Unfortunately its decay is a sign of the times and a reflection of the state of the countrys fishing industry as a whole. There is only a 2-3 large boats fishing out of Dunmore these days. The auction house has been closed by the Dept for health and safety reasons, and any fish that is landed is straight onto the back of a lorry. The smaller lads do a bit of lobster and crab but only enough to keep ticking over. Also the ice plant is due to close as far as i know all boats are to have ice makers onboard to supply the boats with sufficient ice.

The Creaden Lady very rarely goes out, should have named it The Olympic Flame really.

Flyin Irishman

Did you just say fisherpersons?

Master and commander

Flyin Irishman wrote: »

Did you just say fisherpersons?

i was wondering if any1 would pull me up on it. you see, i'm very PC indeed.

The Creaden Lady very rarely goes out, should have named it The Olympic Flame really.

good un! if thats the case, the owners must be up to their bollix in debt. that vessel cost millions.

anyway i'm very surprised to hear the ice house is shutting down and the auction house is also gone. After that, the only fishery related building i operation is the Harbour Master's offices and toilets. Then there is the sailing clubs buildings but they are no fishing related.

It seems as if dumnore's fishery is practically almost dead. I heard the castletownbere ice plant is also shut down recently.

It looks like things are going to get worse, not better. Still though a once off paint job, clean up and gerneral maintenance would do alot of good for the appearance but i guess no one is bothered to do it.

Flyin Irishman

Its a sad situation alright, and unfortunately I dont think we've even scratched the surface on the effect the downturn will have on smaller villages and towns (especially those that rely heavily on one area of income/employment)

As for a one-time slap of paint to hide the eyesore-ness of it, Id say the best bet of that happening would be if the council decide it would be worth the investment during the preperation for next Summers Blue Grass Festival, but to be honest, if it didnt get covered over for the Tall Ships, Id say your ship outta luck....

Silverado

The Irish fishing industry has really suffered very badly in recent years due to overfishing which has resulted in huge restrictions on the fishermen. They are simply not allowed to land fish in the quantities that they used to and consequently harbours like Dunmore East are virtually unemployed for lack of work. There is a small amount of activity but it just takes the form of a trawler or two landing every so often to a truck and then they both are away again. The rest of the time the harbour is just a parking place for unused fishing boats who are “supposed” to pay harbour dues.

Tourists boats are being turned away all the time and the revenue is being lost because the Department of the Marine say that Dunmore is a fishery harbour. This means that the harbour master can keep telling the tourists that we don’t want them. I doubt if this would be allowed to happen in Killarney or the Cliffs of Mother. The locals who live from tourism would riot.

But it is allowed to happen in Dunmore because it is a “fishery” harbour. I think that it is high time that this is highlighted and that the harbour is brightened up and tourist boats are made welcome. It is obvious that there is little money to be made from fishing any more so it should be made from marine tourism.

mike65

The official profile of the harbour suggests otherwise
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/fisheries/fisheryharbours/dunmoreeastfisheryharbourcentre/

Crowded during the Autumn Herring and Spring Fishing seasons, and a significant number of leisure craft visit the port during the Summer months

Silverado

This thread would seem to indicate that the Department website is a tad behind times.

Poor Uncle Tom

Silverado wrote: »

This thread would seem to indicate that the Department website is a tad behind times.

Now there's a shock!

I'd be more shocked if they actually got off their asses and did their jobs.

vicwatson

http://www.independent.ie/regionals/braypeople/news/trawler-skipper-out-of-business-after-his-boat-is-boarded-twice-27637254.html

Junior

That Video is 4 years old ?

Sully

Lots have changed since this thread started and since that newspaper article was written.

So, on that note and since there is nothing bar a link without any attempt at discussion, I think it's best we lock this thread.

Topic Closed