Mr. Francis O'Donnell:

I would like come in and answer that question. We are reviewing our legislation at the moment. That has been ongoing for the last two years. We hope to be finished with that next year and have something new and consolidated. We have stuff going way back to the 1890s that have come forward into the 1959 Act. They are not fit for purpose anymore.

However, what I would say to that is that even as an agency ourselves, we come into conflict with other State agencies around emergency works that they are carrying out. It is not an ideal situation to be in, where one has to go out into the field and try to stop works that an agency is doing. I think that there are agencies out there that carry out significant structural works along rivers and river corridors, and they need to examine their legislation. Some of it goes back to the 1930s and 1940s. It was a very long time ago, and people were not even really thinking about the environment at that point, or what the consequences would or could be into the future. Whether their legislative framework - and what I really mean is their legal powers to undertake works - is aligned with EU directive or not, we find, and we all read about it every day, that there are NGOs or other voluntary groups taking agencies to court saying their powers do not trump new EU legislation. The agencies are saying, "Sorry, they do".

That all needs to be clarified. It is costing the taxpayer a lot of money. There needs to be a review, and I am not going to specify any particular agency. If you have emergency powers going back to the 1940s to undertake works, you need to look at whether they are relevant now. I think not, in a biodiversity crisis. They need to be reviewed. That answers the Deputy's question.