SATURDAY MARKED the end of an era for the Irish Seal Sanctuary (ISS) and the beginning of a new one which it hopes will lead to the fulfilment a long-cherished dream to build a world-class marine conservation centre.
Three rescued seals, Lizzy, Grá and Frankie, were transported from their temporary home in Garristown, Co Meath, to Courtown Beach where they were released back into the sea.
The release marked the transfer of the functions of the ISS to its new home. It was a bitter-sweet day for Brendan Price, the former seal keeper at Dublin Zoo, who has kept the ISS at the back of his home in Garristown for the past 20 years.
He said he would be looking forward to sleep-ins after being woken up for the last two decades by barking seals. By his own admission, his back-garden sanctuary was falling down. The Portakabin headquarters had seen better days, the seals were accommodated in plastic baths and a swimming pool you could buy in a hardware shop – and the toilet was in a tree house.
The Garristown sanctuary had no way of accommodating the public though it tried its best with special interest groups. “It is like a release, the place is deteriorating, fundraising is disastrous because of the recession. We’re barely treading water to keep going on here. This gives us the opportunity to grow,” Mr Price said.
On Saturday, the ISS moved everything to its new Courtown home, courtesy of Courtown Harbour Community Development (CHCD). Plans to build a national seal facility and marine conservation centre in Balbriggan were scuppered before Christmas. “It has been seven years of bad luck,” said Mr Price.
The seal sanctuary is at Gorey Courtown Forest Park at the rear of the swimming pool. It will start taking distressed seals from June and the plan is to open to the public as a visitor centre and make it into an international centre for rescued marine animals. Fáilte Ireland has ringfenced €2 million for the project and CHCD has agreed to support the cost of running the sanctuary for the first year.
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