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Donegal to get up to €1.4m for
storm damage
03.03.14
DONEGAL County Council
is to be allocated up to €1.4 million for repairs
caused to the coastline by the New Year storms, an
Inishowen councillor has revealed.
Labour's Cllr Martin Farren welcomed the progress in
sourcing the funds and said the funding would begin
with a once-off payment of €150,000.
“Letters were issued on Thursday to the seven worst
affected local authorities detailing funding
arrangements up to specified levels of allocation
for repair and restoration programmes arising from
the early phase of severe weather. The repair
funding ceiling for Donegal is €1.380 m with a
once-off reimbursement of €150,000," said Cllr
Farren.
The sum allocated is in line with funding requests
made except that requests for funding of new coastal
protection works have been separated and forwarded
to the OPW for consideration," he added. |
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The storm-ravaged shore paths at
Greencastle.. |
Councillor Farren
commended the prompt response by county council
staff who quickly got to work inspecting and costing
repairs to the damages in Donegal and getting repair
estimates submitted quickly to the National
Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management.
“This section has been working with local
authorities since the storms to compile a
comprehensive picture of the damage and the costs
associated with the severe weather. They presented
their first-round findings to Government on February
11 and the allocations above are the result.
They are still working to compile a similar picture
for damages in the period from January 27 to
February 17. This report will be presented to
Government on March 4 for a decision at the end of
March." |
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The storm-ravaged shore paths at
Greencastle. |
He said said repairs to
the shore paths in his Moville-Greencastle
constituency would be accomplished by a combination
of works by contractors and by voluntary schemes.
"The local community scheme workers in Moville and
Greencastle have already made a start by clearing
away damaged areas, by preventing further erosion
and by commencing repair works. The permission of
local landowners has been secured for access to
repair sites. Tenders for repair works will be going
out to contractors this week and they will have two
weeks to respond.
"This could allow works to commence as early as the
end of March." Cllr Farren said he would raise the
issue at tomorrow's local electoral area meeting in
Carndonagh to ensure that works on the shore paths
get underway as soon as possible.
"It is important that these amenities are restored
quickly and the response from the local community so
far is that everyone is willing to co-operate to
achieve the best outcome from the funds made
available." |
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