The small south Kerry village of Kilmacalogue is being used as a dumping ground for ships.
The abandoned ships on the Kilmacalogue coast are considered an eyesore by locals people. However, it is proving very difficult to get these ships removed. Attempts have been made to refloat the wrecks but have failed.
The ghost ships of Kilmacalogue now aground on the foreshore have done a lot of damage.
One local man says that nobody is prepared to do anything about them. In Kilmacalogue alone there are three tug boats and Dutch built beam trawler. One of the tugs was once used to haul barges on the River Rhine.
The boats were bought by a consortium and brought to Kilmacalogue which has no harbour board and no berthing fees. It seems that the original intention was to refurbish the old vessels and sell them. This has not happened and the boats have now been abandoned. This is causing problems for other fishing boats who now have nowhere to tie up safely.
During the summer months, up to 80 yachts use the pier in Kilmacalogue bringing in much needed tourism to the area. They can no longer make use of the pier. During a storm in November 1977, the four abandoned boats broke loose dragging bollards off the quayside causing hundreds of pounds in damage. To date, nothing has been done to repair the pier. A spokesperson for Kerry County Council says that they intend to carry out repair works on the harbour as a matter of urgency.
The Meeuw, the Bornrif, the Moray and the Stentor remain in Kilmacalogue. It is believed that a prominent Cork solicitor is one of the consortium which purchased the boats.
Though damaged, they're obviously still worth money but it's equally obvious that keeping them in Kilmacalogue is cheap for the owners who don't seem to care much about the annoyance to locals.
Under the current law, any small, local harbour could find itself with a similar problem.
This episode of 'Newsround' was broadcast on 7 May 1978. The reporter is Tom MacSweeney.
