David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have twice raised in the House the issue of the need to provide funding to dredge the harbour at Dunmore East. It is a small fishing village on County Waterford's east coast. There is no doubt that the harbour needs to be dredged. The Department has recognised this need. Many vessels can only land at the harbour and the port at high tide because of the build-up of silt. This restricts the types of vessel that can land. Given the fact that Dunmore East is a fishing village and a harbour that needs a turnover of vessels, this situation is a major concern.

When the issue was raised, the Department's reply referred to the potential contamination of the silt and ensuing problems, for example, exposing contaminated mud once the harbour was dredged. The people in the area wonder how silt in Dunmore East could be any more contaminated than silt in any other harbour in Ireland or elsewhere. There is nothing peculiar about the harbour that would lend itself to that claim. People ask about the scientific analysis underpinning the Department's claims about contamination in the fear that it is only being used as an excuse not to provide the necessary funding.

The significant decrease in fish landings at the harbour poses a further issue. If we could deal with the dredging issue, large vessels could land there and commercial activity at the port would increase. This makes sense, as I am sure the Minister of State agrees.

The harbour is a designated fishery harbour at EU level. If foreign trawlers off the east coast of Ireland get into some sort of difficulty, Dunmore East is the designated port. As such, it is all the more urgent that the Government provides appropriate funding to ensure that vessels can land there.

This matter is not just important for the people of Dunmore East, but also for the east of the county. Due to many changes in the fishing industry, the fish processing plants, which employed hundreds of people in that village, have closed. I understand that the harbour's turnover is between ¤10 million and ¤12 million per year, but people genuinely believe that it could be significantly increased were the harbour dredged, as landing there would become easier for larger vessels. This would have a positive knock-on in terms of job creation.

If capital or maintenance funding could be made available to ensure that the harbour was properly dredged, the situation would improve. The harbour's turnover would certainly improve. I appeal to the Minister of State to make funding available to ensure that the harbour runs to its full potential and commercial activity increases, impacting positively across all of eastern Waterford.