Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the various presentations we have had. I particularly welcome the people in the Gallery. In the seven years I have been a Member, I do not think I have ever seen the Gallery full. I thank those in the Gallery for coming because their presence is very important. It illustrates their commitment.

I will raise a matter we have not touched on that much.

My questions are for Mr. Gleeson. We are talking about communities living on the water. This is what they are in many cases. These are not all leisure boats. There are boats that are for leisure, but there are also people who live on these boats. I know people who live in these communities. They have invested heavily, and this is a way of life and a culture. It is something I would love to do myself at some point. I am looking at the very dynamic demographics of the people seated to my right. It gives us a sense of what this is all about. We see a lot of creative and artistic people. We also see many diverse individuals. This is what I like about the community, and what I particularly like about this community on water. These boats are people's homes in many cases, and they do many other things there as well. I tell them to keep up the battle, because that is what this is. They should keep up the resistance because it is very hard to do battle with people on water. It is very hard to evict people and push them out. To all those listening, I say that we are going to be in for a long battle on this issue if we do not have a bit of common sense, meet people halfway and recognise that, to a certain extent, this is a non-regulated situation in certain ways. This has gone on for so long, and people have acquiesced.

What am I saying? I am of the view that the figures for year one in the KPMG proposal are outrageous. There is no way we can have those fees. Reference was made to the lack of services. I am not going to go into the other issues relating to mediation and the dispute arbitration and resolution process. Mr. Rowe set out his views on this aspect. Let us go beyond what is required. It is important that we meet and engage with people. I will come to another question, but I just want to make these few points.

The aspect I am most interested in is that of the potential for homelessness and the discrepancies in the canal fees. What will happen to elderly people and those who do not have huge incomes and who are being forced to pay these fees? I know he covered this in his submission, but I ask Mr. Gleeson, in the context of trying to quantify the numbers affected, to set out his understanding of how many people would potentially be vulnerable if there were to be a major increase in these fees. How would he see this situation? I ask him to comment because he represents this group. I would like him to spend a bit of time touching on these issues. I am especially conscious, not just because I live in Dublin, that the fees relating to Grand Canal Basin and Grand Canal Dock are just outrageous. Will Mr. Gleeson share with us just one or two examples and concerns about the potential difficulties these fees could cause? I refer, in particular, to old age pensioners and older and more vulnerable people, those who would not have much income. How are going to be able to sustain their lives and cope in the context of what is, effectively, a crisis for them and the community they live in?