Mr. ?anna Rowe:

The whole idea of the public consultation is that we are open to all and any submissions. Of course we would be open to that. We want to get these by-laws right. We have been here before and we failed. They are more than 30 years old and are no longer fit-for-purpose. It is in all our interests that we get the by-laws right.

On the short period, we took a conscious decision about the consultation. Under the Act, we are required to do 30 days, which is far too short. We extended it to 108 days. We are also mindful of the inability thus far of Waterways Ireland to bring into effect the provisions of the Maritime Safety Act 2005, which is very important, and of the environmental considerations, especially around water quality and so forth. We are anxious to have our by-laws adopted and implemented, but we equally want to get them right because they are no longer fit for purpose.