Greencastle Ferry

You may have been watching with some interest the campaign by Greencastle: Keep it Green in opposition to a proposed ferry terminal at Greencastle. Fears for the impact that such a development will have on the environment are very real. Local residents are rightly concerned about the impact this will have on their beautiful village.

Greencastle is an oasis of tranquility.

It is also a place of great historical significance.

The campaign group fear that the route will be used for heavy, commercial vehicles and that their hinterland is not capable of supporting this type of traffic.

There is a petition as to why Warrenpoint is the best choice for the Ferry and NOT Greencastle.

Here are some of the points raised in the petition:

Since 1993 there have been FIVE feasibility studies for a ferry ONLY between GREENORE and GREENCASTLE

GREENCASTLE was only chosen as it is the “nearest” point to Greenore, regardless of its suitability. In fact, the route that the ferry will take DOES NOT make it the nearest point to Greenore any longer.

GREENORE will benefit from this initiative financially as this will give them the status of a “regionally important port” in the Republic of Ireland and therefore have more funding opportunities to expand the port.

RoI has been looking for a Roll-on, Roll-off facility for Greenore as part of their overall Port Strategy, one of their objectives was to divert transport from their roads to ensure efficiency. This is where Northern Ireland comes in. We will be used as this “diversion” for their saving of roads. County Louth Development Plan 2105-21 outlines one of its aims as a “reduction in car dependency”, and this would include HGVs, and to develop their “walking and cycling activities”...

Warrenpoint Harbour although not affected in the short-term will have unsurpassable competition from Greenore once it has developed as per its plans: talking about their 7000 tonnes of dredging in 2015, they explain “this is to cater for a growing trend in the industry for larger, more efficient vessels”. And with regards to expanding with a new steel terminal and extra storage by removing green sites, they hope to “allow the port to compete for other products which the port does not currently handle”.

Although the port does mention albeit briefly, about a cruise enterprise, there is no mention of the development of the port to accommodate/attract tourists, nor is there any reference to the 60 “vehicular” or “car” ferry running across their main channel.

Whatever the main rationale is, this proposal will only be detrimental to the South Down area and of benefit to the Greenore port. It is already divisive in that local communities on both sides of the borders do not agree – mainly in part to the biased propaganda in the press – just look up “Carlingford Ferry IE” in a search engine – you won’t see any mention of wildlife nor see an image of where the actual route is. Papers in NI are just as restrictive.

26) Warrenpoint has the infrastructure for traffic with its dual-carriageway and car parks. Warrenpoint is a tourist town and has retail footfall potential for visitors. Warrenpoint is the start of the Mourne area to give any tourists the holistic journey along the “Mourne Coastal Route”. It just makes sense to make it Warrenpoint – this will also secure current jobs and secure a tourism sector which will provide potential for growth in the much needed hospitality sector in the South Down area. We need more hotels not HGVs!

27) If you care about justice, whether it is for the wildlife or for your neighbour’s job in Warrenpoint or for the safety on our roads or for not wanting to pay subsidies for a ferry that will be short-term – please sign this (as both a constituent and as a potential visitor) and ask our Newry, Mourne and Down District Councillors to make the right decision and to revoke the approval last year to ask for a full robust application with assessment on the wildlife (and whole ecosystem), roads (including wider road network) and economic appraisal (including potential damage to local farming and aquaculture businesses with a view to doing what is best for South Down – choose Warrenpoint not Greencastle.

Check out the Petition HERE

You can follow the Campaign at Greencastle: Keep it Green on Facebook HERE

The Green Castle established in 1250