Ms Dawn Livingstone:

I assure the Deputy we are involved in genuine consultation and we will look at all the key points that have been made and articulated both in person by the groups we have met and in the written submissions. That will include the five day rule. The €3,500 fee for a houseboat berth relates to the Grand Canal docks. There were no boats there until a number of years ago and, therefore, no one residing there has lived at that location for an extended period. We have referred to houseboats but it is important to understand that while the number of boats is small, even within that group, few individuals live permanently on their vessel. Some people live on their vessel for three or four months each summer, sometimes in the one location, while others leave to cruise and then return. We are aware of the individual circumstances of each person and there is a range of charges within the proposals in order that people have a choice. We also have been open in other circumstances to phased payments, for example, to make things affordable for people. I assure the Deputy we are engaged in a genuine process of consultation to try to get this right in order that it works.

The five day rule is included because it was in place previously but we appreciate the difficulty it has caused. Up until now, people have not moved every five days but they have simply telephoned the inspector of navigations to say they would not be back for a fortnight or they would not be down this weekend. From the consultation, we understand people's nervousness around that and the introduction of the €150 fixed penalty fine. The only penalty available to Waterways Ireland previously was to remove a person's boat, but that would happen at the end of a process of at least a year. We will have visited, stickered, e-mailed, telephoned and written to the person. There are many laws that 99.9% of the population never come into contact with because they live within the rules. We are a recreational and navigational authority and we manage by education, co-operation and liaison. We work closely with both organisations present and that will not change, but the fixed penalty notice gives us a cheaper option where someone has blatantly ignored us for months or years in some cases.