Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

-----expensive development works. Is it double taxation? Waterways Ireland receives public moneys from both sides of the country and it receives moneys from permits. Mr. Rowe said a while ago that all the money from the permits would be reinvested. There are between 6,000 and 9,000 boats on the waterways and there should be revenue from those. Waterways Ireland only has 32 houseboat facilities but there are hundreds of unauthorised developments where Waterways Ireland is not charging any fee and is not receiving any revenue, yet we are discussing by-laws to change the charge for people who live on houseboats. We have an absolute crap-show here given the fact that nobody knows what is happening here when it comes to development charges.

Some people are being made the scapegoat, while others are collecting a lot of money. God knows whether they are paying Revenue on it, but they are getting a lot of money. People with authorised marinas are then at a disadvantage. Yet again, it is all about trying to get money in. Waterways Ireland will not even go after those people who have unauthorised developments, yet it goes after the soft boys on the boats.