Seanad debates
Tuesday, 11 February 2014
Order of Business
3:15 pm
John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source
I support my colleague, Senator Whelan, in calling for a debate on the proposed increase in mooring charges. I asked for a debate on this last week. It is scandalous that we are letting Thursdays go to waste and not taking the opportunity to debate many issues. The Inland Waterways Association of Ireland has contacted me because it has not been given much consultation time on these proposed charges. Only 21 one days was given to everyone.
Hundreds of single people and families will be affected by these decisions. I listened to a debate on radio this morning between Senator Whelan and a representative of Waterways Ireland who said the increases could be €4 per year but under the proposed by-laws the increase is ten times the current charge making an increase of up to €3,500 a year. That will drive those people off the canals into the waiting room of the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy O’Sullivan, and onto housing lists, putting further pressure on the system. There is no reason we cannot have a debate tomorrow or next Thursday, before the Minister signs these by-laws.
I support Senator Bacik’s point that the bugging scandal at the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, which is being covered by the media at the moment, be independently investigated. There is a lot of innuendo in the media about the gardaí which is very harmful to the gardaí and I am not sure there is any accuracy in it. I will not rush to judgment because many organisations could have bugged the offices of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. In 1986 or 1987, when the murder of Father Niall Molloy was under investigation, Martin Cahill, one of the biggest criminals in the country, broke into the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, and stole that file, purely to embarrass the gardaí. This matter warrants independent investigation before anybody rushes to judgment.
gerard lacey
Posted on 14 Feb 2014 11:56 pm (Report this comment)
I think it is essential to debate these proposed bye law amendments. The consultation period is far too short a time to consider the implications. There was a serious lack of information given.
Apart from the fact that these changes will absolutely cause homelessness. Many of the changes will not stand up to proper scrutiny. For instance.
Mooring charges will be levied in part based on the length and width of your barge.
The canals were built to take vessels 60 foot in length .
The combined mooring and passage permits as stipulated in the 1986-88 bye laws were the same price for every boat regardless of size.
If the permits had been size specific I would not have had a 60 foot barge built back in 2002. That would be stupid of me as I am not rich.
I believe it is unfair to retroactively levy these charges on those already using the canals.
I cannot change the size of my barge it will always be 60 foot in length.
The canals were built to take 60 foot barges. Therefore the moorings spaces would have to have been 60 foot long also.
I have lived on a private mooring at lowtown marina since I first got a boat. I paid the marina 1,200 annually for the first eight years then 1,450 euros a year for my mooring. They levied the fee on a monthly basis.
For this I had my mooring, waste disposal, secure car parking, electricity(extra), cctv boat watch, diesel,
septic tank pump out (extra), water and a postal address.
I also paid for an annual combined mooring and passage permit as required by the bye laws.
I have lived here at lowtown for 12 years now .
In 2012 Waterways Ireland tried to evict me from my
mooring. I have resisted they're initial bullying and intimidation , the forced closure of Lowtown marina , the denial of my rights as a tenant by both Waterways Ireland and lowtown marine services LTD. I am currently moored in a no mans land under siege like conditions. Both waterways Ireland and Lowtown marine services LTD deny any liability for the situation in which I find myself through no fault of my own.
Waterways Ireland are a discrace .