Foyle Bridge safety barrier could cost £10m

However, the Department of Infrastructure (DfI) is not in a position to fund them at present due to what John O’Dowd has described as the ‘very challenging budgetary position within my Department’.

The Infrastructure Minister said he recently met with Professor Siobhan O’Neill, the North’s Mental Health Champion, to discuss the role infrastructure plays in promoting positive mental health.

“During this meeting it was explained that before any work can be carried out on the bridge, a detailed structural model will need to be developed to ensure that any changes to the railings do not compromise the structural integrity of the bridge.

"The model is estimated to cost around £800k, and the subsequent works to install a barrier may cost in the region of £10m,” he stated.

Mr. O’Dowd was asked by Foyle MLA Mark H. Durkan about what engagement he has had with the ‘Our Future Foyle’ project and whether he ‘will consider the installation of suicide prevention infrastructure along the Foyle Bridge’.

Back in 2022 it was confirmed that proposals to develop a large art installation on the bridge as part of the £25m project announced in 2018 had been scrapped and that DfI was looking at other options.

Mr. O’Dowd outlined: “My officials had significant involvement with the ‘Our Future Foyle’ team during the development of that project. and continue to liaise with various groups in the area on the provision of suicide prevention services, including the potential for the installation of higher parapet railings on the Foyle Bridge.”

In relation to the £800,000 structural model and the £10m barriers, he said: “While I am very supportive of the need for these works, I am not in a position to fund them due to the very challenging budgetary position within my Department.

"I do however want to assure you that my officials will continue to work with the Mental Health Champion, and the other groups involved in the provision of crisis services, to seek to identify funding to carry out the bridge assessment and the installation of suicide prevention measures on Foyle Bridge.”

‘Our Future Foyle’ was launched in the Guildhall in 2018 as a ‘cultural and health intervention’ led by the Public Health Agency (PHA), City Centre Initiative and Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design.

One of its landmark initiatives was a huge art work entitled ‘Foyle Reeds’ that would have seen thousands of illumined reeds erected as safety barriers on either side of the Foyle Bridge.

However, in April 2022 former Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon said her department was working on a Strategic Outline Case to identify a preferred way forward in terms of improving the Foyle Bridge.

*Community Crisis Intervention Service - 028 7126 2300. Lifeline - 0808 808 8000; Samaritans - 02871 265511 or 116 123; Childline - 0800 1111 or www.childline.org.uk; Pieta House - 1800 247 247 or text HELP to 51444; TEXT Crisis Textline Ireland - 50808; Samaritans - 116-123.

DfI will ensure Our Future Foyle learning is not lost as Foyle Bridge improvements move ahead: Mallon