Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is another issue, and Roonagh pier is a classic example of it. If you ask the Department about pier development, it says that pier development is a matter for the local authority. Maybe it is and maybe it is not, and I accept in principle that these are local authority piers, but I presume the Department's islands plan has, after four years, analysed what it believes are the piers it would fund. I also presume that the Department will then communicate to local authorities its belief that there is a deficiency in the pier facilities of islands A, B, C and D and tell them that those facilities need to be upgraded and applications need to be submitted in respect of them. However, the Department seems to be laid back about this at the moment and saying that if local authorities send applications, it might look at them and then decide whether works are needed. In most of these cases, that is self-evident.