Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I am pleased to be given the opportunity to deal with the issues raised by Senator Keaveney relating to the Greencastle project in County Donegal. I want to clarify the position with regard to the responsibilities of the Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Food with regard to the development of fishery harbours. The Department is responsible for the day to day running, maintenance and development of the six fishery harbour centres. These are located at Killybegs, Ros a' Mhíl, Dingle, Castletownbere, Dunmore East and Howth. There are however numerous other fishery harbours throughout the country which are not in the ownership of the Department. These harbours are, in the main, in the ownership of the various local authorities, but the Department has in the past assisted where possible in their development and upgrade. Funding for such developments was provided under the Department's fishery harbours and coastal infrastructure development programme, subject to the availability of Exchequer funding.

Greencastle Harbour falls into this category and is owned by Donegal County Council. That local authority is responsible for the day to day operation of the harbour as well as its maintenance and development. Greencastle Harbour was identified by Donegal County Council as a priority for further development. The recommended development at the harbour is divided into three main phases, which will provide a rock breakwater, fuel and mussel berths and a new deep water berth at the harbour. In recent years, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food co-funded phase 1 of the development, which as I have mentioned involves the provision of a rock breakwater. The breakwater would, when completed, extend to 290 m in length. The cost of phase 1 was estimated at €16.8 million and this was being jointly funded by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and Donegal County Council. The agreed funding breakdown was: 75% to be paid by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, 12.5% to be paid by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and 12.5% to be paid by Donegal County Council.

In addition, although the harbour is in the ownership of Donegal County Council, agreement was reached whereby the Department's engineering division would project manage the development. This decision was taken because the Department is fortunate in having a highly experienced engineering division with accumulated expertise that would not be readily available within the resources of Donegal County Council. Work commenced in 2007 and considerable progress has been made to date. The spend on the project was €1.537 million in 2007, €5.062 million in 2008 and a further €1.604 million in 2009. While Donegal County Council agreed to the above funding arrangement, it currently owes in excess of €900,000 to the Department for works on Greencastle dating back to 2007.

As Members may recall from a previous Adjournment debate last May, the Department was in correspondence with Donegal County Council with regard to the payment of the arrears outstanding for construction costs on harbour works to date and was seeking an undertaking that future liabilities accrued by this Department on behalf of Donegal County Council would be discharged in a timely fashion. This correspondence is ongoing and little progress has been made to date with Donegal County Council still owing this Department in excess of €900,000 for this project. In addition, matters have arisen with regard to grant aid which the Department provided to Donegal County Council in 2007 for other harbour works. These matters, which are significant, remain the subject of ongoing correspondence with the council and are not resolved.

It is important to note that the harbour development project at Greencastle is designed ultimately to address the health and safety issues already existing at the harbour. The issues are harbour congestion, wave penetration and cross currents at the harbour entrance. The Department's engineers previously advised that it is expected that these problems will continue to feature at Greencastle to a greater or lesser extent as the project advances and can only be fully addressed when the project is completed. I assure all harbour users, however, that appropriate measures are already being taken to address health and safety concerns relating to the project. The measures taken to date include the deployment of navigational markings, diver survey inspections of the constructed breakwater works as well as the issue of a marine notice warning all ship owners, agents, shipmasters, fishermen, yachtsmen and seafarers of the breakwater construction site and the changed tidal current patterns in the Greencastle area. Health and safety is, however, everybody's responsibility and there is an onus on all harbour users to proceed with due diligence and care while navigating in the vicinity of the breakwater and while entering Greencastle Harbour. Donegal County Council will, I am confident, continue to monitor health and safety issues at its harbour in Greencastle and take appropriate action where required.

As Members are no doubt aware, funding for capital projects has, of necessity, been significantly reduced due to the current economic environment. Therefore, the available budget for the 2010 fishery harbours and coastal infrastructure development capital programme has been allocated to meet expenditure that is contractually committed for 2010 and essential safety and maintenance works at the six fishery harbour centres. The amount of funding available for the Greencastle project was limited to €104,000. This amount has been allocated under the programme to enable the Department suspend the project in a safe and acceptable manner and transfer responsibility for the project back to Donegal County Council. The Department will keep the matter under review on an ongoing basis, having regard to expenditure in the Department's fishery harbours and coastal infrastructure capital programme. It is, of course, open to Donegal County Council, as owner of the harbour at Greencastle, to continue works on the breakwater out of its own resources.

I welcome the offer by Senator Keaveney to have the matters of outstanding concern addressed. I look forward to finding an opportunity to take up that offer as soon as Donegal County Council has addressed its obligations in that regard.