Mr. Éanna Rowe:

We see no difficulty either with houseboats on our navigations. We see no difficulty whatsoever. In fact, we warmly welcome houseboat communities onto the navigations. However, we are dealing with a brownfield site that is unregulated. The by-laws are an attempt to regulate that situation.

We held ten public consultation events. They were well attended and we garnered a lot of good feedback. There was also a lot of back-and-forth. In the latest set of draft by-laws published and in the consultation report, the Senator will see that we have compromised. For example, in respect of charging in urban areas, we have moved from a maximum of €7,500 to a maximum of €4,000. That is a sizeable move. Notwithstanding that move, we have been asked by the Department, as I outlined in my opening statement, to look again at those charges in a broader context and we are taking that on board.

We have made other changes. The rural service, for example, has moved from €1,500 to €1,000 and so on. We have made substantive changes. We have listened. I remind the committee that the cost for a serviced houseboat berth in Edinburgh, which is a city comparable to Dublin, is £9,000. I am fully conscious of the pressures in Ireland and the fact that we are starting from a base of zero, if you like, and £9,000 is a long way to travel in that regard. However, a value has to be attached to the services that are provided.

The Senator asked about governance and a board of directors. As I said at the two most recent committee meetings, six North-South bodies were established as part of the British-Irish Agreement. In respect of two of the bodies included in the legislation drafted by both governments, no boards were provided for. The North-South Ministerial Council has reviewed that position by which no board is provided for Waterways Ireland. The second body, for example, is the special EU programmes body, SPEUB. It does not have a board of directors either.