Mr. Patrick Harkin:

Waterways Ireland is proposing to have very simple by-laws. At the introduction of these by-laws, there will be two types of permits on the canals. There will be a cruising permit costing €200 and there will be a houseboat permit that will be charged based on the location and services. We have already discussed Grand Canal Dock, and suburban and rural houseboats. There will be five categories within the houseboat. That is permit type 1. Permit type 2 will apply to the recreational boater, the canal cruiser, for €200. There will be no other fees. At the moment we have a fee and a permit that dates from 1988 of €126. It is in fact £100 in the by-laws. We will be scrapping that. We will be scrapping the EMP, which allows boats to not have to move every five days. That will be scrapped. All variations on the EMP, such as residential or non-residential, will be scrapped. It will be nice and clean for residential boats and houseboats. We are here today to bring in clean by-laws that are fit for purpose and reflect the modern uses of our canals, particularly around the use of houseboats, and protect houseboat communities.