Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I ask for the establishment of a pot of money or fund to help develop local authority-owned piers and harbours throughout the country. At present, there is a Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine fund of approximately €5 million per annum. This basically means those piers and harbours have to fight for scraps from the table in order to do any enhancement works. There was an allocation of approximately €50 million under the Brexit adjustment local authority marine infrastructure, BALAMI, fund last year. We have seen incredible work done to piers, slipways, marinas and local authority-owned piers. A pier that qualifies under the Department of the marine can access much greater funding. In my constituency, Castletownbere, for example, got an allocation of approximately €48 million for an extension. I ask for a fund of, at a minimum, €50 million for local authority-owned piers and slipways so they can go about enhancing and doing incredible work. There is potential from a tourism, fishing, and offshore wind point of view is incredible. We just need to see that investment. Even County Wicklow, where the Minister lives, could benefit from such a fund.

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