Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the board members for coming in. I was not here at the start of the meeting but I was watching it.

I will go back to Mr. Finnegan's original mention of a border in respect of Waterways Ireland. How ironic that, 25 years since it was set up after the Good Friday Agreement, we are talking about borders. It is absolutely bonkers. There is also the fact that it was introducing the €40 permit for boats coming from the North to the South and proposing something like a €200 annual charge for people in the South when we are trying to increase tourism, which is a very valuable asset. What would happen if a family living on a serviced site could not pay those fees and refused to move? What would happen to that family? I think Mr. Harkin talked about boats, but these are not boats but families living on boats, and that struck me. It is all about the bang for the buck again. It is a huge entity. There is serious money to be made along the waterways.

I am touching on and aware of that because I sit on the petitions committee as well and we have written to all county councils in the country to find out about developments. These charges will set a precedent for how fast we will go forward. I am aware of possibly 400-plus unauthorised developments along waterways in Ireland. I am well aware of the court cases as well. Once all these developments go forward, what happens with all the charges for mooring boats? I could name them, I could show them and I could show ones that went on during Covid. There does not seem to be any accountability. When I came in here and listened to this today I realised again, it is like everything, whether it is disabilities or mental health, the most vulnerable people are the ones being hit worse. We are in the middle of a housing crisis and we are talking about raising the prices for these houseboats by probably 500%. In five years it will probably be 1,000%. There will be no guarantee here.

Mr. Rowe mentioned that they have to catch up on stock and so on and so forth, that is, what Waterways Ireland has and what it has available. From the information we have received in the petitions committee, we are 22 years into Waterways Ireland and it does not have a portfolio of what it owns, and we are discussing charges for people and families living on boats. I would like to see an audit. What does it actually have? We are 25 years into Waterways Ireland and we do not know what we own. As I said, I could name many developments. We hope to have Waterways Ireland in before the petitions committee. We have written to the county councils. Many of these are commercial entities and commercial is profit; it is not for people. The minute you hear “commercial” you are talking big bucks – you are talking millions for profit. This is one of the finest assets on the planet and I am worried we will drive people off the water instead of encouraging people to use it more. The more people use it and the more proper services are provided, the prices should be coming down, not going up. Is there an alternative motive here? Waterways Ireland is talking about increased fees but the increased services seem to be extremely limited. The only option if you do not get these services is it will give you some place beside a field and a riverbank that nobody uses and you can live there. I do not think Waterways Ireland was set up for that 25 years ago. It is disingenuous to the families in the Gallery and to the people who are listening in. I am very worried about it. As I said, it is a huge portfolio with 400 or 500 developments. Many of these have absolutely no planning and they are getting away with it. Somebody is making money out of this and we are not getting answers. Returning to the crux of what we are discussing today, I just wanted to get that on record because I have plenty of information on it. We are talking about extortionate fees for families when Waterways Ireland does not even have a proper portfolio or audit of what it actually has.

Waterways Ireland was set up for the benefit of the country, the Thirty-two Counties and the people who could use it, who will not be able to use it now with those fees. The fees even just for mooring boats in Portaneena back in 2022 were €2,600 for a 30 ft to 40 ft and a 40 ft and over was €2,900 a year. Boats under 30 ft were €2,100 a year. That is from 2021 to September 2022. Are all these fees going to jump up as well? That is what I am afraid of and I would like answers.

Can Waterways Ireland come back and let me know what it has, which marinas are being built – the ones that we know of - which are authorised and which are not, who is making money and who is paying on tax on the profits from those moorings? Let us get back to the crux. Waterways Ireland is making an awful lot of money and the last thing it should be doing is increasing charges for families to live on one of the finest waterways on the planet, which was gifted to us, in one sense. Through the Good Friday Agreement, it has been a gift, both North and South. Waterways Ireland should be an entity of excellence that acknowledges it was created for everybody and everybody should be able to use the resources at a fair price. Do not take extortionate fees. On what was mentioned on serviced sites between water and sewage, water and sewage is perhaps a problem for Irish Water but it is not extortionate. It has been 22 years in construction. People will not get bang for their buck on this and it is a disgrace.