John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Mary White. This is the first occasion since her elevation to the position of ministerial office that I have had an opportunity in this Chamber to congratulate her. Many people in Carlow and Kilkenny are glad to have a representative who is Minister of State in Government. I wish her well in her endeavours in what is a difficult time to be in Government.

I wish to speak about a couple of issues in the context of this Bill. I have never been a member of any of the regional fisheries boards and have no difficulty with the genesis of this Bill, namely, the streamlining of the inland fisheries authorities into one body, which is to be welcomed. I have in my time had limited experience in dealing with the fisheries boards. However, I would like to raise a number of issues in regard to our rivers and this Bill presents me with an opportune time to do so. The Minister of State will be as familiar as I with the rivers in the south eastern region, namely, the Barrow, Nore and Suir. Senator Bradford and other speakers referred to the potential for tourism on the rivers, in particular angling. However, a question arises in regard to maintenance of the rivers. I am sure the Minister of State is as aware as I am of what happens on a regular basis at certain times of the year in Carlow and Kilkenny by way of flooding in the towns and villages located on the banks of the rivers there. I accept there is an overlap in this regard in terms of the Office of Public Works being largely responsible for the maintenance of rivers and alleviating flooding on the rivers in the south eastern region and across the country.

I commend the angling clubs as I am aware that most of the work by way of maintenance on the lower reaches of the River Nore is carried out by anglers. They are the ones who through their angling clubs put in the effort in terms of maintaining the river. I urge the Government, Office of Public Works and new inland fisheries board to do more in terms of action to alleviate flooding, the maintenance of river banks and, desilting of rivers. It is rare these days that rivers are cleaned in that sense.

I raised this issue with a number of people a few months ago when my office in Thomastown in Kilkenny was for the first time since I took occupancy of it flooded. It was the worst flooding since the 1960s. Many people who live in the area believe this was partly due to the fact there has been little maintenance of the river in terms of desilting, keeping the banks clear and unblocking the eyes of arches of bridges that have become blocked over time and to a change in the structure of the banks. In other words, the river channel has moved and no action has been taken by the relevant authorities to alleviate the possibility of future flooding. I accept this issue may be a little tangential to the Second Stage debate of this Bill but I wanted to place on the record that I and many people who live in river valleys and operate in towns prone to flooding, such as Graiguenamanagh, Thomastown, Inistioge and Carlow are not happy that enough is being done to alleviate the risk of flooding. For whatever reason, there has been a change in the volume of rainfall at particular times of the year and flooding which would previously have occurred once every ten, 12 or 20 years now occurs a couple of times a year. The water has been out on the quays at Thomastown twice during the past 12 months. I am sure the same has happened in many other parts of the country. There needs to be a body of work carried out by the relevant authorities to ensure flooding is alleviated and that the flooding of people's business premises and homes does not continue into the future.

I support and welcome the thrust of the legislation which seeks to streamline a duplicated service across the country. I would like to see a serious effort made by Government and the relevant authorities to clean up our rivers and to make them a more valuable natural asset in terms of attracting tourism to many parts of the country.