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| Narrow Water bridge plan is put on hold | Narrow Water bridge plan is put on hold |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Plans to build a cross-border bridge between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic have been put on hold. | |
| Louth County Council said tenders had been significantly above the figure expected for the Narrow Water bridge project, leading it to halt it. | Louth County Council said tenders had been significantly above the figure expected for the Narrow Water bridge project, leading it to halt it. |
| Funding for the bridge had been approved by Northern Ireland Finance Minister Sammy Wilson in May. | |
| It had been planned the bridge would be built with support from the NI and Irish governments and the EU. | It had been planned the bridge would be built with support from the NI and Irish governments and the EU. |
| On Tuesday, Louth County Council said tenders it had received from construction companies for the project had ranged from 26m euros (£22.4m) to 40m euros (£34.5m). | |
| "Having examined all of the tenders received from contractors competing to build the bridge, it is clear that their estimates of the cost of construction are considerably higher than the figures we have been working with to date," the council said in a statement. | |
| "This leaves us with a substantial funding shortfall. | |
| "Our focus now is on seeing if this can be filled through any combination of additional funding and cost reductions. | |
| "While our ambition remains to see this socially and economically desirable project through to completion, the reality is that it is now effectively on hold. | |
| "At this time, we want to record our appreciation for the support that we have received to date from all of the various stakeholders in both the Republic and Northern Ireland." | |
| The MP for South Down, Margaret Ritchie, has demanded a meeting with the Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny over the decision by Louth County Council to halt the project. | |
| She said she would be urging Mr Kenny "to explore and to try and provide additional funding for the project and to examine if the European Union might have resources to assist with reducing the shortfall". | |
| "At this time, the financial support and solidarity of both the British and Irish governments as well as the Northern Ireland Executive is required to deliver this project which would assist in making a contribution to the local economy in South Down and the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth," she added. |