Gabrielle McFadden (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Given the number of agencies, there must be one lead. Meelick is not in my constituency, but a man-made cut there, which is overgrown, is affecting my constituency. We cannot get one half of it cleared because it is a special area of conservation and planning permission is required. One is passed from Department to Department because it is not its responsibility. There needs to be one lead agency in control of the entire situation. Otherwise we will be on a hiding to nothing. Farmers working on the shores of the Shannon know the river better than anybody. They want this piece of the cut cleared, but they cannot get it done because there is no lead agency. Waterways Ireland does not want it and neither does the ESB. It is a special area of conservation. It is absolutely ridiculous. We are spending a lot of money on a report for which we have waited since 2009.

When the report comes out it will provide maps for the whole country. I know we have never had such maps before and it will probably be an advantage. The people who live in the region have been affected by floods. They are not just numbers; they are people who have homes and livelihoods in the region. They know the River Shannon better than anybody else and want this piece of land cleared. They cannot get that done even though they have jumped through hoops. It would be useful to have a lead agency, which one could approach with ideas of what needs to be done, and then the lead agency could give a directive for the work to be done. At present there are too many chiefs and not enough Indians. People are saying who should do what but nobody is doing anything. That is why I firmly believe that after the CFRAM report there should be one lead agency that will direct all the other agencies, an initiative which is very important to the people on the ground.