Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will try to keep my questions short. The proposed by-laws have engendered an awful lot of confusion given that the consultation for by-laws for the canals are run in tandem with the consultation for by-laws for the River Shannon, but there is an intrinsic difference. Waterways Ireland owns the canals but does not own the River Shannon. There is some suspicion that running the two consultations together has been an attempt to confuse things. What would the witnesses from Waterways Ireland say to that?