Michael McNamara (Clare, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise three separate issues with the Minister. With regard to piers, it is set down that there is a separate allocation for fisheries, harbours and aquaculture development. The subcommittee on fisheries released a report last week. One of the recommendations was that county councils be funded to carry out an assessment of existing infrastructure and any surveys required to enable them to apply for funding from the Department. The current situation is that the Department does provide funding for necessary works but only provides funding for the actual physical works. County councils must get to the stage of planning so that involves various environmental impact statements and other costly works that are required to get them to the stage where they can apply for funding. Has there been any change to that policy and is the Department now in a position to fund the surveys and desktop work to get them to the stage of being able to do the bricks and mortar work?

The second issue I wish to raise relates to the Irish Seed Savers Association, which is an organisation of national importance and gets quite an amount of national coverage regarding the financial difficulties it is in. Obviously, there has been a reduction in funding from the Exchequer to the Irish Seed Savers Association. I am very grateful to the Minister for his interest in the association and for the fact that, subject to EU approval, he has agreed to increase the budget for the association in 2014. A large part of the difficulty the association is encountering is not just because of a reduction in Exchequer funding. It is also because there is a reduction in the volume of sales on which it relies for a large part of its funding and a reduction in membership as people across the country seek to reduce expenditure. The association performs a fairly vital national function in maintaining biodiversity in this State, which Department officials have acknowledged. Will the Minister look at a multi-annual funding approach? Again, I do not wish to appear ungrateful for the additional funding the Minister has agreed to provide. It has been communicated to the Irish Seed Savers Association and we are all grateful for it but the Minister might look at a multi-annual approach which might enable it to look at how it is funded into the future.

I am not entirely sure whether the final issue to falls to the Department, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government or other Departments. I suppose the fact that the OPW falls between many Departments is part of the problem. A considerable amount of farmland in south west Clare around Kildysart and Ballynacally was flooded due to storm damage when the embankments along the Shannon estuary were breached. There was a time when those embankments and culverts up across the west of Clare in Carrigaholt and right up to Quilty would have been maintained by the OPW. They are not now maintained by the OPW and there is a bit of a bunfight between Clare County Council and the OPW as to whose responsibility they are. The same is true of the embankments along the estuary. That is of little consolation to the farmers involved. All of these areas are designated as special protection areas, SPA, and special areas of conservation, SAC. There is a very detailed protocol and detailed analysis in Great Britain regarding how state agencies must respond when flood protection mechanisms are damaged.

There is an obligation on the part of the State because these SAC and SPA designations have caused considerable difficulties for farmers. Perhaps this is a silver lining in the cloud in light of the duty to restore SAC and SPA areas to ensure there is sufficient habitat for the various species for which they have been designated. Are protocols in place and how are decisions made on whether State agencies will repair damaged embankments? It is a cause of concern to farmers in the area. It might not be the Minister's responsibility but he sits at the Cabinet and a bun fight between State agencies would be unseemly given the damage that has been done.