Mr. Mark Horton:

It is a chronic problem. Community-led rivers trusts and like-minded organisations find it virtually impossible to access the funding or resources to allow them to have an employee or pay someone to work on delivering their objectives, which are aligned with what everyone here is trying to achieve but are driven by communities’ passion for their local catchments and river environments. A volunteer effort can only go so far.

I will ask my colleague, Mr. Murphy, to contribute. He has first-hand experience of having sat at the kitchen table after a hard day’s work for 15 years trying to get a resolution on a weir on the Slaney. It is only through his and the rest of that trust’s dedication that that battle still continues. I underscore the word “battle”. It should not be so difficult for organisations like rivers trusts, in partnership with IFI and so on, to overcome the obvious obstacles we need to resolve to protect our river environment. I will ask Mr. Murphy to discuss his experience.