Review of west Mayo quay project rejected for funding

DISAPPOINTMENT has been expressed after a €500,000 project to kickstart the upgrade of Roman Island/Westport Quay failed to secure funding.

A full report on why has been requested by Councillor Brendan Mulroy, with a promise from director of services Joanne Grehan for a review and exploration of other possible funding streams to get it progressed.

The department decision was 'really disappointing', Councillor Mulroy told a Westport-Belmullet Municipal District (MD) meeting.

This area has seen great improvements, he said, and it didn't make any sense, and he wanted feedback on what went wrong.

He was 'amazed' that it didn't get through, saying feedback would be interesting.

When this project was passed locally, a project in Belmullet, which has received funding, didn't qualify under this particular scheme, the meeting heard.

Ms. Grehan clarified how that came about: Belmullet was entered through a Gaeltacht scheme. There was no other project in the district that qualified for a Gaeltacht scheme.

The director said four of Mayo County Council's five projects submitted were successful, achieving €1.4 million - second highest after Galway.

However, it was disappointing, she agreed, that Westport wasn't awarded an allocation.

Feedback was sought from the department. They said it wasn't successful on this round but that didn't mean it cannot be put forward for another scheme in due course.

Ms. Grehan was disappointed but the question she will be asking is where can they make improvements, why did it fall down. They will review the scheme and see how best they can prepare it given that it was a priority for the MD.

It will be reviewed and the council will look at other funding streams too.

* Published under the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme