David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not think the RNLI lifeboat station, the people who work in that area or the fishers really care where the money comes from. Whether it comes from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage or the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is not the issue for them. The problem relates to when Departments operate in silos and there is not a joined-up approach. On the one hand, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has indicated that it will fund the dredging or at least receive and process an application while, on the other, the local authority has stated that it does not have the funding to carry out the preliminary works, which can cost as much as the dredging. When the funding from the former Department is not there, we end up with a chicken-and-egg situation whereby the lifeboat cannot be used at certain times of the day and fishers cannot use the harbour at certain times because of the build-up of sand and silt. It is a matter of knocking heads together between different Departments or, as I suggested earlier, amending the regulations to allow the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to fund all the works, including the preliminary works, which are necessary for the dredging.

I have raised this matter previously, as have other Deputies, but the dredging remains necessary at the harbour and the build-up is getting worse. I visited the harbour recently with my colleague Deputy Mac Lochlainn, our party's spokesperson in this area, and we met fishers and others. They are getting very frustrated and want a resolution. Will the Minister of State convey this matter to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine? I do not care where the money comes from, as long as it comes and the work can be done in order that the lifeboat can do what it needs to do and fishers can do what they need to do.

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