Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 3 July 2019

Committee on Public Petitions

Save Fermoy Weir: Discussion.

Photo of Pat BuckleyPat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for attending and giving of their time. There is much to take in, so I will try to be as brief as possible.

There seems to be some confusion, in that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing at times. My feeling from the presentations is that there are a number of organisations that cannot pull together towards the reinstatement of the original weir and the original fish pass. Given the European directives, I understand where IFI is coming from as regards an alternative fish pass, but I am confused by the fact that some bodies are only supporting certain aspects, for example, the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, IFI, Cork County Council and the stakeholders.

This has been going on for ten years and, unfortunately, the weir is deteriorating further. I am worried about the larger social impact of that. Many sporting organisations are losing out. The water levels are bad. Since my background is in mental health services, I am viewing this in terms of the social impact on disabled users accessing the river, for example, via the wheely boat. A great deal of work has been done on this issue. Is there any way for us all to pull together and try to get the weir reinstated to as close as possible to its original status?

Some fish run up the fish pass, but some do not. According to IFI's presentation, this situation may affect migrating species. "May" means there is a possibility.

As it stands, the weir's condition is affecting many people along the River Blackwater. As far down as the old estuary, I am worried about the tourism side of the situation. It seems that we could be discussing this for a further ten years and it still might not get done.

Could the various parties come together, go to the European Commission and state that although there are directives which apply, there are also issues within this country and that we have our own rules? The common-sense approach is to acknowledge that it is broken and then go about preserving and fixing what we have. Is there any way this can be done whereby everyone can be facilitated in the short, medium or long term? Those are my questions for the moment. There is an awful lot to go through in respect of this issue.

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