Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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There are many small piers and harbour slips along the coast, some of which were built by the Congested Districts Board. An inventory was created by local authorities in some counties, particularly Cork and Galway. When I was Minister, the Department funded some of this work in order that we would have an accurate record of what was in place. It did not involve detailed surveys, rather it involved visual surveys of piers. A two-page description of every pier and landing place was supplied. Some of them are in charge of councils, while others are not and few of them do not have a value. They are either used for marine leisure activities or fishing. The database makes is easier for local authorities and the Department to make informed decisions on investing money and for people to be creative in developing harbours through Leader companies and the rural social scheme if the Minister funds them. It would be cost effective, therefore, to use some of the allocation for harbours and piers to expand this inventory to cover all of the counties in which surveys have not been carried out. Rather than having a hotchpotch view, it was a useful tool in developing a comprehensive plan to use all of these facilities.