MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has announced €32.7 million in funding for upgrades and improvements to Ireland’s public marine infrastructure.

The funding will be used for projects such as repairing and enhancing slipways, piers and pontoons.

The scheme is proposed for funding under the Brexit Adjustment Reserve, a once-off emergency EU fund to support regions and communities who have experienced adverse economic, social, territorial or environmental effects as a result of the UK leaving the EU.

McConalogue announced the scheme, which aims to rejuvenate local authority public piers and harbours throughout coastal communities, earlier this year.

In a press statement today, he said: “It is fantastic that we received so many great applications in this first call for projects and it is truly heartening to see such eagerness to help support our coastal communities transition to living in a post-Brexit economy.

“This is the largest ever funding announcement of its kind for local authority marine infrastructure and I am confident that it will future-proof our piers and harbours right around our coast.”

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is administering the scheme. Local authorities are responsible for governance and delivery of their own projects.

Projects to be funded by the scheme include €2 million worth of repairs on protective barriers on the east pier in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, structural repairs in Sligo harbour and repairs to the sea wall and slipway at Dungarvan harbour in Co. Waterford.

A further call for projects will issue later this year to allocate the remaining funding under the scheme.