Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

As I posed some questions to Mr. Gleeson earlier, I would like to focus my attention in this round on Mr. Rowe and his earlier submission, where he talked about engaging with some of the local authorities through phase 2 of the consultation process. He will recall that the last time he was here, I spoke to him about the importance and the significance of engaging with our local authorities. I pointed out that there were a number of local authorities that were not referenced at all in any of his presentations the last time. I am conscious of Leitrim and am thinking of a number of local authorities. In his presentation, Mr. Rowe singled out Offaly and Tipperary for mention.

As Senator Fitzpatrick noted, these are public spaces and public realms. They are high amenity with biodiversity and all the things mentioned It is about having the place as open as possible to as many people as possible. That is really important. I live beside a harbour, which is not a canal, but living in Dún Laoghaire I know the benefits of those waterways, public ways, boats and community. I will go back to that point that it is also a living community. In fairness Mr. Rowe acknowledged the significance of the advocates who really kept the thing going. Like him, I have been around a long time and there is going to be resistance to this. We must be realistic and be adults here. Let us see if we can come to the line of negotiation that meets Waterway Ireland's ambition and objectives, because I am sure many of the ambitions Waterways Ireland has are also the ambitions of the people here today.

I am not going back into the rates because we have talked that out, but it is crazy. It is not going to happen. There will be resistance politically to it and there will be resistance from a number of quarters to it. As Mr. Rowe is a pragmatist too, he is going to face up to that. He might take the committee through his consultation, because this is important for our understanding of what is happening. How many local authorities has Waterways Ireland had direct engagement with? More importantly, is there a summary document of their concerns in order that we can understand them? It is horses for courses, there are unique differences, demands and pressure points in different parts of the country. In relation to Waterways Ireland's water network, how many of the local authorities did it actively engage with?