Buck Teeth

louth | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Tuesday November 09, 2004 16:12 by Sean Crudden - Greenore/Cooley Fisherman's Association sean.crudden at iol dot ie Jenkinstown, Dundalk, Co Louth. 087 9739945

November meeting of Greenore/Cooley Fisherman's Association

Some intriguing questions were raised at last night's meeting of fishermen in Greenore.

Chairperson of Greenore/Cooley Fisherman's Association, Archbishop M D Hynes, snapped at a break in the meeting last night.

A special meeting of Greenore/Cooley Fisherman’s Association (GCFA) took place in 5 Anglesea Terrace, Greenore, on Monday 8 November 2004 starting at 8.30 p.m.

The names of the five people in the local area who had received pot-fishing boat licenses were reviewed.

Summarising the position regarding safety the Chairperson, Archbishop Michael Desmond ("Dessie") Hynes PhD OMA, said that life-jackets were the big thing now. Boats have to be surveyed that fish in Northern Ireland or in The Republic of Ireland. They must pass the test on safety. There is grant-aid available for safety.

The Chairman then said that he was of the opinion that The District Court had no jurisdiction on Carlingford Lough.

The secretary of the association, Sean Crudden, raised the question of how, then, could rules and licenses be enforced on The Lough.

The chairperson pointed out that this would be in the hands of The Loughs’ Agency (which was set up under the "Belfast Agreement" and which was quietly awaiting enabling legislation).

"We are in a transitional phase at the moment - Carlingford Lough is a ‘Limbo’" the chairperson asserted.

As GCFA had claimed, since 1970, jurisdiction on the Lough and had issued licenses the secretary of GCFA was instructed by the meeting to write to The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform looking for clarification and to object to the usurpation of jurisdiction on Carlingford Lough.

The outer facade of the new promenade in Greenore was a "death-trap" for boats the chairperson maintained. "The rocks are like buck-teeth sticking out," he said. They should be levelled he suggested and some form of rubber barrier should be erected on the outer wall. A €40 000 boat had been damaged there in the recent gales.

The next meeting of GCFA was fixed for 8 February 2005 starting at 7.30 p.m. in The Farm, Greenore.

M D Hynes and Pat O'Hanlon, Treasurer of GCFA.