The Irish Seal Sanctuary last night announced it was permanently closing due to the Government's decision not to allocate capital funding in the Budget for the construction of a new national headquarters, writes Joe Humphreys.
Mr Brendan Price, a director of the sanctuary, said it had received a verbal commitment from the Department of the Taoiseach of £1.8 million for the establishment of the State's first national seal sanctuary at Donabate in north Dublin.
"As far as we are concerned this is a broken promise. We had nothing in writing but were told we had a 'total' commitment," he said.
"We have been going for 16 years now but have no choice but to close. We don't have the people or resources to go on."
