Ms Dawn Livingstone:

On the Shannon, for example, the maximum stay at the public facilities that we provide is five days. Those are free of charge. When they are not using their boat, people buy a berth in a private marina where they leave it for the long term. We own all of the property on the canals and the maximum charge to use the canals for a year is €126. The maximum charge to park a boat of any size and leave it somewhere for a year is €152. Those charges are too low. At the private marinas on other waterways people pay €600 for their private berth at the bottom of the scale, and can pay anything up to €1,600. We want to raise charges on the canals. We want to have an affordable choice and a range of charges depending on the facilities. This is holding back the development of the canals, because there is none of the private inward investment enjoyed on other waterways where people can leave their boats at private marinas that provide security, water and electricity. This will also improve the quality of boats. If someone has a very good boat, he or she will want to leave it somewhere that is secure and has good facilities.