Mr. Cathal Sweeney:

Similarly, the second-last audit that was carried out in Donegal was in 1999. That was from an economic perspective and it looked at the 153 piers and harbours throughout the county. It was a very detailed report. It talked about the economic investment, what works and where development-wise we are required to bring them up to standard.

I in 2017 and 2018, we carried out a safety review of all of our piers and harbours. That identified a number of the types of issues the Deputy just mentioned. It made a whole list of recommendations and we followed up with those recommendations. We drew down capital funding to carry out measures that were identified in that review. That was in 2018. Since that, and before that as well, what we rely on are just visual inspections carried out periodically by our outdoor staff, harbourmasters, engineers and so on. As the Deputy will be aware as well, we have the communication with most of our harbour users. They all have an open line to us. As soon as defects are identified, they are raised and brought to our attention. We do get to them fairly quickly, particularly where there are safety concerns.

Would a national audit be of benefit? Yes, it certainly would. It would be even from an economic perspective as well as from a safety point of view to identify those harbours that need particular attention - for example, in the Deputy's own locality in Greencastle and Glengad - where there is a large amount of fishing activity and where they need substantial investment. Therefore, yes, I do agree.