Tom Barry (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Unfortunately, I have to leave shortly. I am sure the Chairman will accommodate me in asking some brief questions. With regard to the pots, do the witnesses see any requirement to encourage a change of practice in future so that fishermen, especially those operating pots out of the quay side, would take adequate protections to prevent them being swept away? Do the officials regard it as unfair that counties with large coastlines should bear the full cost of repair of quays and so on? Is there any inventory of our coastline detailing the infrastructure that exists, the extent of damage done in recent weeks and how much it will cost to repair or replace? Would the witnesses agree that we need to look at infrastructural planning and maintenance in the framework of a 20 year plan, for instance, categorising buildings as old and new and so on and estimating the likely long-term cost of maintenance and repair?

Should we seek some form of risk equalisation mechanism for this type of coastal infrastructure given that everyone benefits from it? Should inland counties not make a contribution towards maintaining it?

Were all the piers that sustained damage old structures? Did any of the piers built in recent years show signs of damage? If so, must the engineering practices applied to the recently built structures be reviewed? Should a 20 year plan be implemented? The damage may have been once-off but rather than respond in a knee-jerk manner, as we did several years ago when we responded to two bad winters by stockpiling mountains of salt which have still not been used, we should learn lessons and implement a long-term strategy. We have a tendency to rush to alleviate immediate problems. We need long-term policies to avoid having to ask in future what emergency measures we should introduce in response to crises. As Deputy Ó Cuív correctly noted, it is not possible to spend large sums in the immediate aftermath of such events. Time is needed.