Michael McCarthy (Labour)

Cork County Council has undertaken to clean the bed of the River Bandon. At the beginning of the week the South-Western Regional Fisheries Board issued a letter preventing that work from proceeding. We are faced with a situation where one organ of the State is doing its best to try to ensure that in the future flooding will not inflict the same damage on businesses and homes as that which we witnessed last November, while another is, in effect, preventing this from happening. If one organ of the State is fighting for communities and attempting to ensure the misery experienced and damage caused will be kept to a minimum in the future, surely another should not be working against that agenda.

As stated on previous occasions, three or four Ministers and Ministers of State have responsibility for different aspects of marine affairs. That is not good enough. I request that the Minister with responsibility for the fisheries boards who, I believe, is the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Eamon Ryan, come before the House to discuss this appalling situation.