Mr. ?anna Rowe:

We will certainly take that issue on board. There is some phased implementation in the by-laws already. I listened to my colleagues and stakeholders regarding phased implementation of some of the elements, particularly those relating to health and safety and so forth. We will certainly take that on board through the submissions process. We are here to listen. We will listen to the submissions made through the public consultation. We did that during phase 1 of the consultation. We have taken a lot on board. Certain areas, such as fixed payment notices, are not in our gift. It is very important that is understood by all.

On the costs associated with the proposed houseboat permits, proposed permits for rural areas are set at a level that we already receive through our licensing arrangement. The market is already able to support those costs in rural areas. In the urban area of Dublin, we received a submission, just before phase 2 started but outside of phase 1, from the residents at Grand Canal Basin, which we will seriously consider. We are not that far away from each other as regards the starting point of that permit. We will certainly take that submission on board. Unfortunately, it fell outside phase 1. We received it on 5 January and phase 2 started on 15 January. I reassure the Deputy we will certainly take it on board.

On suburban areas, we took on board the submissions we received. We reduced the fee by 20% based on the submissions and on the other two locations. We have moved on that, but we will consider further submissions.