PEOPLE POWER HELPED SAVE SKERRIES HARBOUR!

The Skerries Community Association (SCA) are delighted with the announcement made by Dermot Ahern TD, Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources of an Order made, that will transfer ownership of Skerries and Balbriggan Harbours to Fingal County Council.

The SCA would like to thank the hundreds of people from the community who attended a public demonstration, organized by the SCA that was held on May 29th in opposition to the sale of the harbours.

At the demonstration a verbal commitment was given by Deputy Jim Glennon that he would seek a meeting with representatives from the Departments of Marine and Environment, with Deputy Sean Ryan and Deputy Trevor Sargent also invited.

This meeting was held on Thursday 24th June and was also attended by a representative from Fingal County Council. Further meetings continued with a representative from Dublin Port also in attendance.

"This is a great victory for the people of Skerries", says Sandra O'Sullivan, who coordinated the "Save Skerries Harbour Campaign". "At the demonstration we managed to effectively highlight our concerns over the proposed sale, and also kept the debate in the public forum, with follow up articles written in two national newspapers and highlighted on national radio. It shows what we can achieve when we work together as a community", she added. "We look forward to being actively involved with Fingal County Council, regarding the future development of Skerries harbour", she concluded.

Commenting on the great news, Bob Laird, Chairman, SCA, paid tribute to the local TD's . "On behalf of the SCA I would like to thank Deputy Trevor Sargent and Deputy Sean Ryan who took such an interest in the proposed sale of the harbours, and raised the matter in the Dail. In particular I would like to thank Deputy Jim Glennon, who lobbied hard with the Ministers and produced the result that the community clearly wanted".