‘Rat-ridden’ trawler removed from Waterford pier after 20 years

According to a former Coastguard Officer, rats were “frequently seen scuttling about the wreck”.

Waterford City and County Council has removed an abandoned trawler from a scenic pier-side location on the Cork/Waterford border.

The derelict boat has been berthed at Tinabinna pier, a short distance from Youghal Bridge, for over 20 years.

According to The Examiner the boat was regularly targeted by fly-tippers, who would arrive “in the dead of night” with bags of rubbish to dump.

The trawler was originally part of a fleet of 88 BIM ‘50-footers’, promoted by the Irish Sea Fisheries Association and Bord Iascaigh Mhara to enhance Ireland’s struggling fishing fleet between the 1950s and 1970s.

The boats were credited with boosting the fishing economy and creating new jobs at a time of mass emigration and unemployment in Ireland.

Former Coastguard officer and renowned Youghal ‘Town Crier’ Cliff Winser, who lives on the pier, told the Examiner that rats were “frequently seen scuttling about the wreck”.

He added that he was “very grateful” to see the boat removed, saying “it had become very difficult to deal with the sight of it every day”.

Youghal engineering company B & C Services, on contract to the local authority, used a JCB to demolish the trawler before removing it and clearing the area.

Header image via Shutterstock 

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