Narrow Water Bridge Gets Final Approval

The long proposed Narrow Water Bridge, between the Newry Omeath Road, and the roundabout near Warrenpoint, has moved nearer becoming reality following approval by the Northern Ireland government last week, and subsequently by An Bord Pleanála.



An artists impression of the new bridge from the shoreline near Omeath.

The cable bridge which will be 660 metres in length, will carry a north and south lane, and will cost just over €18m to build.

Although, at first glance, the price seems expensive, the reason for the high figure is undoubtedly the fact that a section of the bridge will be capable of being raised to allow the passage through of masted sailing boats, and other pleasure craft, to the nearby Victoria Lock, and further up the canal, Albert Basin, beside the Quays Shopping Centre.

The impression of the new bridge can be seen just above the trees.

On the County Down side it's location will be at the roundabout close to where 18 British soldiers died in an IRA bomb ambush in 1979, and on the southern side it will link with the road on the Omeath side of Cornamucklagh House, formerly Davies Pub.
The project is one of many seeking a slice of an available €30m EU fund, and Louth County Council are hoping it will be opened by mid 2015.

Already €900,000 has been spent on the project, without even a sod being turned.

You can't help but wonder where this kind of money could have been spent.

 

You Need Oxygen Near Oxigen

There are days when you're tempted to jump the lights at the junction at the Northside Retail Park on the Dundalk by-pass, or as the Town Council prefer to call it, the Inner Relief Road, (which sounds like gastric complication) due to the stench emanating from the Oxigen Depot beside the junction.

In case you've been puzzled by the awful pong that reaches you, even with the windows tightly shut as you drive past, it's coming from their base located just beside the truck diesel stop across the road from the Millenium Centre.

In these times of 'correctness' and health and safety, it's really puzzling how this operation, of waste sorting and recycling, is allowed  to operate with the town boundary, and at times the stench is unbearable in adjoining housing estates of St Alphonsus Road, Cluan Enda, Oaklawns, and Meadow Grove.

Far lesser problematic enterprises have been forced into extinction through non-compliance agenda and the resulting Court appearances.

What's also very strange is the fact that Fine Gael TD Peter Fitzpatrick lives just over the wall from the stench in Belfry Gardens, and the silence from him on the matter is absolutely deafening.

Ravensdale Parishioners Growing Disquiet

Over recent years there has been considerable criticism of the stewardship of Fr Padraig Murphy, PP, St Mary's Church, Ravensdale, and in particular his handling of finer details of requested Masses for funerals.

He has been seen to impose his own rather inflexable viewpoints, not generally associated with a man of his relatively tender years, but which might be excused in someone of a much older generation.

In recent times, in the rapidly changing world, there is a growing tendency for young people to celebrate the lives of their departed peers at funerals, by bringing artifacts associated with the tragically deceased young person to the altar during Mass, and to read eulogies about their lives, which sometimes might include a poignant song with touching lyrics.

Fr. Murphy is totally opposed to this, and has alienated many parishoners by his dictatorial attitude, and his unwillingness to accommodate people in their hour of grief.

The largest funeral ever to take place in the parish was the recent burial of Ryan Byrne, Annaskeagh, Mountpleasant, Dundalk, aged 21, who died tragically in a road accident.

Fr. Murphy was on holiday during the period but his imposed instructions meant that the massive crowd who were unable to get inside St. Mary's Church, including all his school-friends who formed a Guard of Honour outside, could not hear the Mass.

It was very sympathetically concelebrated by Fr. Keenan, who is originally from the area, and a friend of the family, with two colleagues from other parishes, who are also friends of the family.

The sight of Ryan's motorcycle helmet, and a pair of much loved boots at the altar, and the eulogy delivered by his younger sister Sinead, and a poignant little song from a young member of the extended family, would bring a tear from a stone.

All this was lost to the massive crowd outside because of Fr. Murphy's instruction that the outside speakers of the PA system should not be switched on in case it would disturb the children in the adjoining school.

On his return from holiday it appears he vented his anger on Fr. Keenan over how the Mass was celebrated, and in particular of the presence of the helmet and boots at the altar, and the song. He instructed Fr. Keenan to make his views known to the grieving Byrne family and tell them that he would personally call on them to convey his fury.

A timely warning by way of a reply to Fr. Murphy from the Byrne family, stopped his ill-advised proposed visit from taking place, but the upshot of his lack of sympathy and understanding is that the forthcoming Month's Mind mass for Ryan will not take place in their home parish but instead right across town in Haggardtown, as the family distance themselves from Fr. Murphy.

It is simply astonishing in these troubled times for the Catholic Church, that Fr. Murphy, and many others like him, cannot move with the times and seek to bring people back to religion, instead of consistently alienating them.

It is also probably significant that the funeral Mass for another parishioner, who died in the last few days, was celebrated in Dundalk, rather than in St. Mary's Church, with internment taking place afterwards to Calvary Cemetary, Ravensdale.