COUNCILLORS have deemed it absolute madness to consider spending an estimated half million euro on Kilteery Pier in Loughill without first considering the “basic necessities”.
At the recent Adare-Rathkeale Municipal District monthly meeting, a Part 8 proposal was before elected representatives for a single-storey pavilion and pier wall consisting of public changing facilities, a public communal space, a lifeguard station, and lifeguard WC.
The proposed scheme also contains remedial works to the pier, including repointing of pier flagstones, canted pier wall, and cut stone steps.
However, councillors, after debating the plans for an hour, found themselves at an impasse, calling for the item to be deferred to their July meeting, until the Council’s Planning Department further considered their requests.
Fine Gael councillor Adam Teskey revealed that the hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end as he listened to the proposed plans for Kilteery Pier.
“Half a million for putting up a structure that doesn’t have a proper toilet facility, doesn’t have running water put into it, doesn’t have electricity. A site where the public would rather it go into a different location, not to mind that we’re going to trial the access to the lifeguards toilet for wheelchair accessibility,” Cllr Teskey hit out.
The Fine Gael man deemed it madness that these basics were not included in the plans, which would cost the taxpayer half a million euros.
He called for the Council to go back to the drawing board and amend the scheme to include toilet facilities, electricity, and running water.
Cllr Teskey also suggested the local authority look at the provision of CCTV in the popular West Limerick fishing and swimming spot in case of accidents and potential lawsuits.
Cllr Stephen Keary (FG) also took the view that time-controlled electronic barriers were needed at the Loghill beauty spot.
“You can’t be letting any kind of a jackass in there that can pull in a caravan. It needs to be properly controlled because we had issues there before with certain members of the community being parked up there for a number of weeks,” Cllr Keary warned.
The Council explained that Kilteery Pier is a particularly sensitive site in terms of its location, and urged members to keep that in mind.
“I suppose at the forefront, it’s a rural location, obviously very scenic, and landscape concerns are in relation to the sensitivity of that site. There are some elements, like electricity, that you could potentially look at, and add an amendment to include, but there are implications on Council budgets in terms of maintenance.”