Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I apologise for cutting across Mr. Rowe. I am thinking of the people living in these boats. There are other people paying mooring fees to people on these unauthorised developments and they probably do not even know they might not be covered by insurance and so forth. There are major implications in this regard as to who will get sued. I remember speaking to Mr. Rowe the last time he was before this committee. He mentioned planning issues now. If they are unauthorised developments, then no planning was asked for. Second, these people encroached on Waterways Ireland land. Mr. Rowe told me it is Waterways Ireland which is responsible for that. Why is there no urgency to go after all of these encroachments?

I do not know how much money is being generated by these big, major unauthorised developments that have in excess of 70 berths. The development in Portaneena is fairly big. I see a Waterways Ireland boat even parked up in the same marina. This is farcical. Waterways Ireland is running with the hare and hunting with the hound. That is basically what I see. Why can we not get our books and house in order and stop putting pressure on the people in the Galley who depend on this? This is their home. To me, Waterways Ireland is coming up with a very unsatisfactory plan when it does not have a plan.

I understand there are legacy issues. If Waterways Ireland inherited these issues, it inherited them. It is on its property, however, and it is supposed to serve the people. Waterways Ireland receives funding from both sides of the country. Why is it so difficult to do the right thing? Some of these encroachments are going on for more than 14 years, during which no fees or revenue were collected but yet people in the Gallery are looking at charges going from a possible €500 to €4,000. It just does not make sense. Is it possible to name the identities of the legal and authorised developments in order that boat owners can be sure that when they are paying docking fees, they are actually covered by insurance? This is what they face now with these large-scale developments. People are probably mooring their boats and paying a fee while not knowing where it is going or if they are even insured. How do we fix that?