John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator McGreehan and I represented this part of the world, namely, the Dundalk-Carlingford area, on Louth County Council. It is a hugely symbolic and important project for the communities of Omeath, Carlingford and north Louth, and for communities on the other side of the Border, like Warrenpoint, Rostrevor and Newry. It is a symbolic thing to connect those communities which have been apart for so long because of issues in the Troubles and everything else. Carlingford Lough is already quite connected through the Carlingford ferry at the mouth of the lough, which goes from Greenore to Greencastle. This is a good way to connect it further down.

It has had many false hopes and false dawns over the years. When I was first elected to the council in 2014, it was very close to getting over the line but, because of mistakes in prices and tenders, it fell short. The project is now shovel-ready and could start tomorrow if the funded was approved. We need Government to approve that funding. The funding is there through the shared island unit, which is looking around to fund projects that are ready to start. This is the perfect example of something we can do with it. That is why Senator McGreehan and I bring this to the Seanad today. We need the final approval and the rubber stamp from Government to go ahead with it.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the late councillor, Tommy Elmore, who put this project on the map 40 years ago. He was the first person to advocate this. The Elmore family are synonymous with the Omeath community. Tommy passed away nearly two and a half decades ago but this was his project. He was the first one to talk about this. He put it on the map 40 years ago when the concept of cross-Border infrastructure was null and void because people were blowing stuff like that up. I would like to remember him today in this debate about the Narrow Water bridge.