Mr. Seamus Breathnach:

I take the point on board. It struck me when the Chair mentioned that different planning is needed for piers and harbours than for enterprise centres, etc., that a local harbour with four, five or six boats is an enterprise centre on its own. Some €800,000 or €900,000 worth of fish could be landed there every year. Six or seven people, or more, could be employed there. In this country, why is the marine sector is an exception to everything else? We encounter bureaucracy when we deal with the local authority and the Department of the marine. Then we run into planning issues and matters relating to special areas of conservation and foreshores. That is before a digger gets a chance to dig out part of a pier. That is the biggest stumbling block.

The other stumbling block in our opinion is the lack of engagement from the local authorities. As I said in my previous statements, some local authorities are positive and co-operate with the local fishing and tourism industries. Other people, such as kayakers, use the harbours as well. Harbours and local piers are a gem in local areas. At my own harbour, for example, we have been looking for basic infrastructure for 12 or 13 years. The last bit of work, bar one piece, was done by the congested districts board at the beginning of the 20th century. Through sheer perseverance, we have managed to get some sort of traction but there has to be a national policy. There is a national policy for every other thing. How will I put it? There just needs to be a national policy for piers and harbours.

They are basic infrastructure for coastal communities, for fishers who are using them and for other users too, including the RNLI and the local Coast Guard station. You would need those facilities. We are not back in the dark ages, but what if you have no water in a harbour, no hoist on a pier or no slipway to draw up your boat if you need to do some maintenance? They are basic infrastructure. The local authorities have a national body themselves. Why can they not have a national policy on coastal infrastructure? That is what is needed so that our coastal communities can live there and work safely rather than, say, going down a step that might have no railing. It is the whole thing of community, sustainability of coastal communities, safety of fishers and the basic things. I mentioned bureaucracy before. I have four points here - bureaucracy, planning, shore-side electricity, SSE, and foreshore – before anything happens.