Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State. There is a lot of positive stuff happening in the county. I will bring the Minister of State back a bit to the Arterial Drainage Act 1945. Neither of us was around at that time but some guru decided that different watercourses would be divvied up between the Board of Works, now the OPW, and local authorities. The River Inagh in north Clare comes under the jurisdiction of Clare County Council. Its budget for managing that watercourse and river is minuscule. It does not have the diggers or the heavy machinery, such as the long reach diggers the Minister of State and I are very familiar with, that can clear out all the silt. It has none of that.

The OPW gets approximately 90% of the budget with 10% going to local authorities, yet the latter are expected to manage rivers like the River Inagh with few resources. I ask the Minister of State to consider recategorising that river. Surely in this day and age, with climate change and everything that has caused, the 1945 legislation needs to be revised.

See this speech in context