Mr. ?anna Rowe:

Sorry. Planning is a matter for the local authorities. It is not in the gift of Waterways Ireland and I think the Deputy is aware of that.

Regarding the alleged encroachments, we are well aware of more than 400 alleged encroachments that date back to the 1920s on the Shannon. We have a strategy in place to deal with those encroachments and we are resourcing that strategy now through the recruitment of a number of new staff. We will begin work in a very measured way to deal with those alleged encroachments.

On the visitor permit, I need to make it clear that the visitor permit is for anybody who wants to visit for a 60-day period onto the Shannon, the Shannon-Erne, the canals or the Barrow through the entry points of Dublin, Limerick, Waterford or when they cross into the Shannon-Erne Waterway. It is our ambition to bring the exact same permit regime into place on the Erne system. Now that we may have an Assembly back up and running in Northern Ireland, we may be able to effect those changes. It would be an all-island permit. That permit, for €200, which comes from the €127 currently charged on the canals, is less than an adjusted permit. If we were to adjust it since 1988, it would be €288. We are proposing €200 and it would allow a boater to travel from Belturbet down to Carlow and St. Mullin’s, from Dublin right across to Limerick and Portumna and Athlone, availing of the public harbours, of which there are 52 along the Shannon and six on the Shannon-Erne Waterway, and all those other harbours along the canals and the Barrow that are provided by Waterways Ireland through the funding we receive from Government Departments. The €200 permit brings equity across the system and allows people to traverse our waterways. The visitor permit came from recommendations out of phase 1 of the consultation. The overwhelming majority of people wanted a visitor permit introduced so that people visiting our waterways for a short period of time could avail of those same services.

Regarding houseboats, as I said on numerous occasions, we are not looking to evict anybody. That is the exact opposite of what we are trying to achieve. We have a brownfield unregulated site. We have houseboat communities that we welcome on our waterways, which have grown organically, and we want to provide surety and proper services to those houseboat communities.