A SPOKESMAN for Donegal County Council has denied claims that it is to blame for the cancellation of a visit by the Jeanie Johnston ship to Rathmullan tomorrow.
The replica 19th century famine ship was due to berth at the pier but because of safety fears the stopover has been cancelled.
Locals claimed the council allowed the 51-year-old pier to fall into such disrepair that large vessels could no longer dock there.
The ship set sail from Galway yesterday morning, and will instead berth in Derry tomorrow.
A council spokesman said the pier had been stripped of its fenders to make for new ones. If they knew the ship was coming they would have delayed the work.
A spokesman for the Jeanie Johnstonmanagement company, Brendan Dineen of Rivercruise Ireland, said it did not give the council adequate notification of its visit to Rathmullan.
"We thought it would only be a matter of ringing Donegal County Council to tell them we were coming. However, we only contacted them two weeks ago, and by that time the old fenders had already been removed."