Donegal Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

Justice for Fahan Marina in David versus Goliath battle- Cllr Pádraig Mac Lochlainn

Published: 4 September, 2010

"Justice for Fahan Marina in David versus Goliath battle"- Cllr Pádraig Mac Lochlainn

"Millions of tax payer's money wasted in scandalous saga- Serious questions now has to be asked of some senior Fianna Fáil politicians in Donegal"

Donegal County Councillor, Pádraig Mac Lochlainn has hailed yesterday's High Court judgement in the case brought by the Government against the directors of Fahan Marina and the counterclaim by the directors as "Justice for Fahan Marina in a modern day David versus Goliath battle".

He described the ruling by Judge McKechnie as a vindication of John McDaid, Nancy Doherty, and the McDaid (Halfway) family, directors of the marina.

Cllr Mac Lochlainn said:

"When the directors of Fahan Marina chose to invest their hard earned money into the project many years ago, they had no idea that they were to walk into a political storm not of their making. Senior Fianna Fáil politicians were determined to use tax payer's money to build a marina across the estuary from Fahan at Rathmullan".

"From that point on, the full powers of a Government department and Donegal County Council were deployed to harass and block the Fahan Marina project. The good name of the directors was maligned in a politically motivated whispering campaign. As the directors of Fahan Marina endured hurdle after hurdle, Donegal County Council spent €1.3 million of tax payer's money on plans for marinas at Rathmullan and Buncrana. We now know that all of that money has been wasted"

"But worse was to come. When Fahan Marina were in line to receive €3 million in European Interreg funding as part of a cross border marine tourism initiative, the Government blocked the funding in another attempt to cripple the project.

The High Court ruling yesterday found that the Government abused their authority to deny this funding to Fahan Marina and ruled that the Government must now pay half of the money lost, back to Fahan Marina to reflect the lost opportunity.

This means that not only did our Government incredibly block European investment in Inishowen but once again the tax payers have to foot the bill for political arrogance; a bill that will pass €3 million when consultants' reports, legal costs, and compensation payments are totalled up".

He concluded:

"When the final ruling on costs is decided on October 26th next and the dust settles, serious questions have to be asked of some Fianna Fáil politicians in Donegal, past and present.

When the directors of Fahan Marina commenced their project, James McDaid was the Minister for Arts, Sports, and Tourism. Cecilia Keaveney was the Chairperson of the Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Sports, and Tourism and former Senator and County Councillor; Bernard McGlinchey led a Fianna Fáil majority on Donegal County Council.

Instead of using the power given to them by the people of Inishowen and Donegal to assist and encourage local investors to develop Fahan Marina, in any objective view, they abused their significant collective power, wasting millions of euro of the peoples money and seeking to spend more. Shame on them and well done to the directors of Fahan Marina. They have been vindicated in this modern day David versus Goliath battle"

ENDS