Warrenpoint-Omeath bridge offers ‘a second chance’

Narrow Water is a site that effectively marks the meeting point of three counties – Down, Armagh and Louth – and two jurisdictions, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

It is also a site that has seen more than its fair share of significant events.

This includes the Narrow Water bombing of August 1979, where 18 soldiers were killed in an IRA double bomb attack.

It is also believed to be the point where US President Joe Biden’s ancestors crossed from County Louth before sailing across the Atlantic from Warrenpoint.

Once a tourism hotspot, Warrenpoint and Omeath’s border locations effectively became their stumbling block during the Troubles.

Ironically now, that location has offered them a second chance to establish themselves.

The bridge is expected to take three years to be built and when it opens it is hoped it will effectively create a new tourism destination along the island’s main transport corridor, equidistant between Belfast and Dublin and linking in the Mournes, Ring of Gullion and Cooley mountains.

The bridge will connect the A2 Newry to Warrenpoint dual carriageway in Northern Ireland with the R173 at Omeath in the Republic.

It will also allow better access between the villages of Warrenpoint and Rostrevor in Northern Ireland and Carlingford across the border, with the hope being that it’ll help develop the wider Carlingford Lough area into a major Irish tourism destination.

The earliest signs of work are footpath closure notices and the clearing of land for a site office on the northern shore.

There is more to be seen on the south side, with diggers already clearing a field and putting in foundations for the bridge’s approach road.