Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is familiar with this case through parliamentary questions she has answered. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Coveney, and the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, have also responded. During the Fianna Fáil Administration, Deputy Eamon Ó Cuív responded to parliamentary questions on it. The story originates in 2003 and has gone on for over a decade. Donegal County Council was charged with dredging the channel at the harbour at Burtonport in 2003. The council ran into difficulties regarding the disposal of the spoil, the dredged material. It reached an agreement with a local family, the Boyle family, to use some of the Boyle lands, comprising a small number of islands adjacent to the harbour, as a solution to the dumping problem in removing the silt. It was agreed to use the rock contained on the small islands owned by the Boyle family as a bund and to store the dredged material within the bunded area. The result from the point of view of the council is a saving of over €500,000. I have access to letters from council officials to this effect. That was the value of the quarried rock at the time.

The result of this work was a new plot of land consisting of Mr. Boyle's original islands and the new reclaimed foreshore. The agreement with the family was that the new piece of land, the reclaimed foreshore, and the original land owned by the family would be transferred to him by the council as part of the original agreement. The intention of the family was to build commercial, community and retail units and a marina that would create dozens of jobs and kick-start the local economy, not to mention bringing in taxes to the local exchequer and rates to Donegal County Council. Part of the agreement was that the Boyle family would transfer to the council part of the land to assist the council with car parking. What has happened in the past ten years? The harbour has been dredged, the infill has happened and the rock owned by the Boyle family was used by Donegal County Council, saving the council over €500,000. However, the transfer never took place because it was caught up in some legal wrangle, according to answers to parliamentary questions from Deputy Coveney, Deputy Hogan and Deputy Ó Cuív. It is now over four years since Donegal County Council paid €130,000 as the agreed fee for the transfer of the foreshore licence. The Boyle family was chosen as the preferred partner to develop the marina project and a grant of €465,000 was allocated for the project. Unfortunately, the grant was lost and it is claimed it was lost because of the delays in the project. As entrepreneurs, the Boyle family have come up with another proposal to develop the area to enhance it in respect of tourism. This is all dependent on the transfer of the foreshore licence.

I ask the Minister of State to outline why agreement was reached between the local authority, the State and the family. The family lived up to its agreement and there was a huge benefit to Donegal County Council. However, 11 years on, the State has not lived up to its part of the agreement. How are we supposed to create employment? I invite the Minister of State to visit Burtonport and see what was once a thriving fishing community on its knees. When local people come up with initiatives and want to create employment and enhance the community, red tape at official level stalls the process. How has it taken 11 years when a foreshore licence agreement has not been implemented, despite the fee having been paid over four years ago by the local authority?

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Pearse Doherty for raising the matter. I know of his interest in it. He referred to a number of parliamentary questions on it. Proposals for activity and development on the foreshore vary greatly in terms of their nature, scale and complexity, and the time required to determine applications varies accordingly. There is a long and complicated history to this.

The Burtonport foreshore consent application on hand with my Department has two aspects. First, it involves an application for a lease for an area of reclaimed foreshore at Burtonport Harbour by Donegal County Council. Secondly, it involves a proposal by Donegal County Council to sublease a portion of the reclaimed foreshore concerned to a third party. There is a long and complex history to this particular case.

At the time of the original application, Donegal County Council wanted to purchase the foreshore in question. However, the position of the then Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources was that a lease should instead be granted for the maximum term of 99 years. As a matter of routine, sanction from the Department of Finance, now the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, is required for lease terms in excess of 35 years. Sanction was secured in October 2007, subject among other things to a valuation being obtained and agreed by the council. After a series of negotiations, the valuation was finally agreed with the council in October 2010. The council elected to lodge payment in respect of the leasehold premium in October 2010, in advance of any request for payment from my Department or any lease agreement being in place.

Over time, the nature of the proposal for which the council had originally intended to make the third party sublease changed substantially. This gave rise to a number of legal issues, on which my Department needed to seek legal clarification. My Department has been engaging with the Chief State Solicitor's office on this case since November 2010. The present position is that legal advice is awaited from the Attorney General's office and, until this advice is received, it is not possible to indicate when this matter will be concluded. My Department's legal advisors have been appraised of the pressing need to resolve legal matters relating to the case. My Department is in regular contact with the county council to ensure it is aware of the position, with the most recent contact taking place in December 2013.

I realise it has been going on for a long time and we will seek to expedite the issue.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State's final comments, although I was aware of the earlier issues mentioned. My colleague in the local authority, Councillor Marie Therese Gallagher, has been pursuing the issue at a local level with the local authority for many years. I should reiterate that this started in 2003; we have had a boom and bust since then, along with a banking expansion and collapse. We also had the imposition of a troika agreement, which we have since exited. Banks have been nationalised and liquidated. We have had all of these issues, which I am sure are more complex than fulfilling a legal agreement between a local authority and a person who wants to create jobs in an area of significant deprivation.

I have dealt with four Ministers on this issue and I have spoken with the Office of the Chief State Solicitor. It is simply not acceptable that 11 years later the best legal brains in the country cannot come up with a solution or draw a line under this project one way or another. How can it take years for the Chief State Solicitor or the Attorney General to give advice on the issue? My view is that because the project is located in Burtonport, it is not a priority. There is no way legal teams are sitting around in the offices of the Chief State Solicitor or the Attorney General with the Burtonport file day in and day out; it is simply not happening. The issue is at the bottom of a pile because it has not been prioritised. It should be prioritised, as this is about creating jobs, but it is also a breach of an agreement which was of significant benefit to the State. The Boyle family have been penalised and have lost nearly €500,000 in grant aid to build a marina that would have been successful at the time. Yet they have not sat back; they have decided to look at a tourism-oriented caravan project that will bring people to an area in west Donegal to experience the rich culture and beauty of the area, with Arranmore and other islands just off Burtonport. That would bring some tourism potential to an area that is screaming out for it.

I appreciate the Minister of State's final comments, but something must be done. A Minister must see that enough is enough, as this family has been treated shabbily for one reason or another. It should not have taken 11 years for this to be dealt with, so a deadline should be set so that the issue can be resolved.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Officials from my Department intend to meet representatives of the offices of the Chief State Solicitor and the Attorney General in the near future. I will check that the issue is followed up as quickly as possible.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that.