Mixed views on Taoiseach’s £2.6m for north-south bridge at Narrow Water

The proposed bridge over Carlingfod Lough would link Warrenpoint in County Down and Omeath in County Louth.

The 280m cable-stayed bridge will feature lanes for cars and cycles and will be anchored by towers at either end. Construction is expected to begin in 2023 with Louth County and Newry, Mourne and Down District councils overseeing delivery.

Plans to build the bridge were put on hold in 2013 when Louth County Council said tenders had been significantly above the expected figure - ranging from £22.4m to £34.5m.

However Taoiseach Micheál Martin announced today £2.6m in funding from the Shared Island Fund to progress work.

John McGreevy of the Kilmorey Arms Hotel in Kilkeel said the proposal was “a good idea”.

“I think it would bring custom into the area,” he said. “We should look for the good in it - why can’t we be the culinary area of Down and Mourne?”

His hotel gets many guests from the south who come via Newcastle and Newry, and who say the offering, with the nearby Mourne Mountains, is “amazing”.

South Down MLA Jim Wells said he had no strong views on the project - so long as it did not undermine plans for a new road link to the main Belfast-Dublin carriageway- and safeguards fishing in the lough.

“Shellfish trawler owners objected to the previous proposal for a bridge at Narrow Water and they believe that their views were not given sufficient weight,” he said.

The Southern Relief Road must also not be jeoardparised, he said. It would bypass Newry to provide a strong road link between south Down and the main arterial route between Belfast and Dublin.

“This road is the absolute priority for the area,” he added.

Alan McCulla CEO of the fisherman’s organisation, the Anglo North Irish Fish Producer’s Association said the project is visionary.

“But regretfully, fishermen are not part of that vision. It is sad that those who are sponsoring the project, which carries with it so much symbolism in terms of reconciliation have to date ignored the opinions of commercial fishermen who will be adversely affected by the bridge and it’s construction. Hopefully that will change.”

Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD said he was delighted that work on the Narrow Water Bridge is now progressing.

“This project was first proposed decades ago, and has been a long standing and highly symbolic Government commitment, as reflected in the Stormont House-Fresh Start and New Decade New Approach agreements,” he said. “I am determined that the repeated commitment to build the Narrow Water Bridge will now be delivered upon.”

Stormont Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon told the BBC the taoiseach’s announcement was “fantastic news” after people in the area had been “let down for far too long”.

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