Mr. Kevin Morey:

To give the committee a little context, when the flood relief scheme was being developed, an opportunity to carry out some remedial works to the weir was presented. The reference to this being carried out by the OPW may be a little misleading, probably not deliberately. There was an opportunity to have work carried out, not funded by the OPW but by a contractor who would be there on the bigger flood scheme. There was an economic advantage to get works done at that time. What was envisaged was relatively minor work: reinstatement of the fish ladder and minor repairs to what was obvious on the weir at the time. However, we have now had a good opportunity to see the structure of the weir and the effects on it of last year's severe drought. It is a very old structure which is effectively at an end-of-life stage, and the work involved in remediating it is now estimated to cost €1.34 million. It is a major infrastructure project. In normal circumstances the local authority looks to Government for funding for such a project. Not only that, but the habitats directive is a changed circumstance which imposes another huge obligation. It is not a minor mitigation input; it is a further €1.7 million on top of the weir. Here we face the question of scale, which is way beyond our resources.