At the Oireachtas committee meeting on the Implementation of the Good Friday agreement, Senator Mary Moran commented on the urgency for the contributory funding by the department of Finance and Personnel (DFP) in the North to be pledged for the building of the Narrow Water Bridge Project, without delay.

Senator Moran said: "Under the EU INTERREG programme, the SEUPB has approved the €17.4 million in funding for the bridge at Narrow Water between Omeath and Warrenpoint, across Carlingford Lough. However the necessary contributory funding has not been pledged by the Northern DFP, and we are still awaiting a decision in that regard pending an on-going review process.

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"Labour is a strong supporter of the Narrow Water Bridge Project, and is mindful of the risks if the requisite approval processes in Northern Ireland are not progressed as expeditiously as possible, bearing in mind the INTERREG funding deadlines. This project is about more than building a physical bridge, but is a symbol of peace. It will also be a symbol for the bridges that have been built north and south of the border, within communities and religions, and I think the 15th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement would be the optimum time to cement this bridge symbolically as well as physically as we look to the future."

(CD/H)