Posted online: Aug 29th, 2008

By Dermot Keys
dermot@letterkennypost.com
Donegal County Council’s proposal to prohibit the use of jet skis from selected beaches in Donegal has been described as “crazy” by the Chairman of the North West Personal Water Craft (NWPWC) club.
Water Safety Development Officer for Donegal County Council, Kevin McCloskey, confirmed that a proposal to prohibit jet skis from blue flag beaches would be coming up for public consultation but pointed out that it wasn’t fully formulated yet.
“We are hoping to have it up for public consultation soon. Then it’s up to the public to see the bye-laws and give their opinion on them. Obviously, the councillors will then decide on it. It could be quite a lengthy process.”
Uel McClintock, Chairman of the (NWPWC), said the sport should not be tainted by individual jet ski users’ behaviour.
“If you look at the roads, how many people drive too fast – but you don’t ban cars from the road. You ban the person that is driving too fast.”
The club are trying to regulate the sport in the region. It is affiliated with the Irish Sailing Association (ISA), which now issues licences for PWC’s. Mr McClintock said the club aimed to have all its members fully trained by Christmas.
“Unfortunately, we’re looking at a potential ban before we even get the tools in place. There are people out there that do need to be trained and learn that there are other people on the water besides themselves. All we’re saying is that we need time to train people. “We need to work that way, rather than coming along and banning people from using the natural facilities.”
He advocated the use of zones for PWC’s, with these zones clearly signposted to inform the public of their purpose. He added that PWC users required access to beaches by cars, which not every beach had.
“I personally feel that banning PWC’s is crazy,” Mr McClintock said.
“I hope we can get Donegal County Council to work along with us rather than against us. Ireland is a small island surrounded by water. It seems a shame we can’t all use it.”