The sinking of a former smuggling vessel into Killala Bay for it to become an artificial reef will take place on Wednesday afternoon.

The MV Shingle was seized by Customs officers at Drogheda Port as part of a €14m tobacco seizure in 2014 and was held by the Revenue Commission.

It sat in the dry dock at New Ross for the past ten years.

Earlier this year, a Maritime Area Consent licence was granted to the Killala Bay Ships 2 Reef project team, a group of diving enthusiasts, to allow them to tow the Shingle to Killala Bay for sinking.

Planning permission was then granted by Mayo County Council in July of this year for the preparation, transportation, positioning and placement of the MV Shingle on the seabed of Killala Bay.

The towing operation to bring the ship from the port at New Ross up to Killala will take three days and upon arrival, a company has been employed to prepare the ship for sinking.

The ship will now leave New Ross on Sunday afternoon at 2:30pm and will arrive in Killala Bay early on Wednesday morning.

The ship will then be sunk on Wednesday afternoon.

As Ireland’s first artificial reef, it is hoped that the project will bring a major tourism boost to the region.

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