Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein)
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Senators O’Donovan and Duffy are up next. They have two minutes each in the first round, and in the second, three and a half seconds. We will divide the time evenly.

Noel O'Donovan (Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State is very welcome and I thank him for being here. The condition of coastal infrastructure in west Cork, indeed throughout the country, particularly piers and slipways is the subject of my Commencement matter. Our coastal infrastructure facilities are not luxuries. They are lifelines for many in our community. They support fishing families, connect island communities and sustain tourism in some of the most economically important parts of rural Ireland and yet many are deteriorating. Years of underinvestment, combined with increasingly severe weather, has left them unsafe, unreliable and unfit for future demand. I think of Keelbeg pier in Union Hall, Pallas pier near Ardgroom on the Beara Peninsula, where mussel fishermen are in need of a pier extension to work during low tide, as well as the dredging required at Kinsale Harbour for the safety of boat access. I also think of ambitious projects like the development of a new marina in Schull or a marine activity centre in Bantry that simply are not happening.

We should be more ambitious for our coastline, but the current process is not working. Local authorities are being asked to deliver more with limited resources. From my experience, they often lack the staffing and funding needed to maintain and develop this essential infrastructure. However, funding alone is not enough. We need a national review of local authorities in terms of coastal marine management to identify what is working, where delays occur and which delivery models are most effective. Some projects progress efficiently while others stall. We should be learning from both. That review should focus on improving the development process, make it more efficient, better resourced and capable of delivering for communities. If we are serious about supporting coastal in rural Ireland, we must both invest in local authorities and reform how they deliver and develop our coastal marine infrastructure. The future of places like west Cork depends on this.

Mark Duffy (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the floor of Seanad Éireann. Something I, along with my colleague, Senator O'Donovan, have raised continuously, is the maintenance of piers, harbours and slipways across the country. Indeed, in my home county of Mayo, it is something I have advocated for as a county councillor, and more recently as a Member of the Oireachtas. Something that sadly has borne out our worst fears was a recent tragedy at Belderrig pier, where Joachim McNulty sadly lost his life. I have met Joachim’s daughter, Joanna, his wife, Geraldine, and the Belderrig community, who have been immense in using this as an opportunity to say "No more" and to insist on better standards of safety at piers and harbours.

What I would love to see come from today is a message to all chief executives of county councils to have safety audits on all of our piers and harbours to identify exactly what needs to be done to improve safety, lighting and maintenance of piers, slipways and harbours, to ensure that tragedies like Buncrana or more recently Belderrig never happen again and that all measures are taken to protect them.

I would welcome the Minister of State’s engagement on this. I ask him to meet with the McNulty family and in particular Joanna at some stage. She is working on a petition to encourage support to make sure that this vision of safety at all of our piers and harbours is realised.I wish to acknowledge the work of Darren Forde. He is a local innovator in County Mayo who is doing great work to create proposals that will help make safety measures on piers a reality.

Senators will not be found wanting when it comes to supporting the Minister of State in his efforts to request funding to deliver much-needed investment in piers and harbours. The Minister of State understands the importance of this work. There is a lot of jeopardy as well as dangerous moments at piers, which can happen very quickly. A brilliant legacy for us all would be to support the Minister of State and the McNulty family, in memory of their late father, to make sure that such a tragedy never happens again and that our harbours and piers are safe. I look forward to hearing the reply.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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At the outset, with others, I join in offering condolences to the McNulty family. I offer my condolences to Geraldine, Joanna and the rest of the family. Of course, we will meet them in due course. I suggest that the Senators contact my office and I will happily engage with them.

I thank Senators O'Donovan and Duffy for raising this issue today. Our Department owns, operates and maintains six designated State-owned fishery harbour centres, located at Castletownbere, Dingle, Dunmore East, Howth, Killybegs and Ros an Mhíl under statute. It also has responsibility for Cape Clear, Cleggan and some piers, lights and beacons. In addition, our Department has responsibility for the upkeep and maintenance of the north harbour at Cape Clear, as well as the maintenance of a small number of specific piers, lights and beacons throughout Ireland in accordance with the Marine Works (Ireland) Act 1902, and piers, lights and beacons constructed under the auspices of the Congested Districts Board.

Responsibility for the development and maintenance of any piers, harbours and slipways that lie outside the boundary of the fishery harbour centres that are not under the remit of our Department rests with each local authority in the first instance. However, our Department, as part of its annual fishery harbour and coastal infrastructure development programme, does provide limited - I emphasise that it is limited - discretionary funding to coastal local authorities for the implementation of small-scale projects focused on the development and repair of piers, harbours and slipways under their ownership. The proposed projects must support the fishing industry, aquaculture and marine leisure activities. Accordingly, on 16 February, I announced €4.3 million in funding under the local authority marine infrastructure scheme for 2026. Under that scheme, our Department will co-fund up to 75% of the eligible project costs, up to a maximum of €187,500 reimbursement, where eligible, per project, with the local authority providing the balance.

Local authorities were encouraged to assess the nature of the capital works on their coastal-marine infrastructure that may require repair, modernisation, enhancement or upgrading, identifying those projects that could be considered eligible for funding in 2026. The deadline for local authorities to submit project proposals for funding under this scheme was 9 March. I am pleased to inform the Senators of the large volume of project proposals submitted to our Department within the timeline. In fact, applications were submitted by every coastal local authority. The is really encouraging and says to me that the engineers are engaging with the process. Applications are evaluated, taking into account the terms and conditions of the scheme, the priority attached to each project by the relevant local authority, available funding and the need to ensure a broad geographical spread of projects.

The Department is currently processing these applications. I expect that this process shall be completed in the coming weeks, following which I will make a decision concerning the allocation of funding for eligible project proposals. Once the projects are approved for funding, our Department will engage with representatives from the respective local authorities.

I can, however, share details of funding provided in recent years to local authorities by our Department. It is worth noting that any costs incurred in relation to survey work and permit applications are not considered capital expenditure and, therefore, are not eligible for reimbursement by our Department. It is a matter for the local authorities to progress preparatory studies, permitting and design reports for each project in advance of applying to our Department for supporting capital works.

Between the years 2020 and 2025, our Department reimbursed total funding of almost €60 million under both the local authority marine infrastructure scheme and the Brexit adjustment local authority marine infrastructure, BALAMI, scheme. This figure is the total drawdown from the local authorities following completion of their projects. The figure may differ from the allocation granted by the Department each year. It should be noted that it is a matter for each local authority to manage the progress of each project and submit claims to the Department for reimbursement. For context, the BALAMI scheme was one of the recommendations of the seafood sector task force, which the then Minister, Deputy McConalogue, established following Brexit. It provided funding to local authorities to revitalise Ireland's public marine infrastructure to offset the impact of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The main condition for eligible projects is that the costs incurred must be directly linked to countering the adverse effects of the UK's withdrawal on the local fishing community.

Noel O'Donovan (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. I acknowledge the response. My point is that I do not think the €4.3 million, which I have acknowledged, is enough for local authorities. We need to review how local authorities apply, process and develop coastal infrastructure. I am asking that the Department would review which local authorities work well. Perhaps there is best practice across Europe in respect of how we can develop coastal infrastructure.

The work, time and cost that go into these preparatory reports mean local authorities are simply not applying for projects. We can see a vast number of projects have been applied for, but €4.3 million will not cover these. I am asking for a review of how we do this. There is a need for safety and ambitious projects, but we are not doing this well enough. I am sharing the rest of my time with Senator Duffy.

Mark Duffy (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State again for his reply. His commitment to meet the family is greatly appreciated.

To follow up on Senator O’Donovan’s point, the investment in piers and in repairs to piers, slipways and harbours is welcome. It can be more. On the specific aspect of maintenance, the resources supplied by local authorities is something we need greater understanding of. We need safety audits and assessments in respect of all our piers, harbours and slipways. We need to find out the cost of making them safe and of their ongoing maintenance. If we can understand this through communication with the chief executives of the local authorities, then we can all campaign to support better funding for the Minister of State’s Department to support local authorities. It could be done through that Department or through the Department of local government, led by the Minister, Deputy James Browne. At the moment, though, the maintenance of this infrastructure is not up to scratch. Whether at this level or at local authority level, we need to have a greater intensity in addressing this important matter.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senators again. To answer directly, I too share the concerns raised. I have visited many piers and harbours around the country, but there is not an envelope of money in our Department to be able to fund them. I have, therefore, begun a process of engagement across Departments. I did not want to come in and stick to the script, which would, effectively, say it is an issue for another Department, because that does not solve the problem. We are all in government together. While local authority piers do reside under the Department of housing, I am prepared to work with it. It is important that we look to the Department of tourism as well, because many of these facilities are also used for tourism. There is an element of fishing, although a lot less than what it might have been, so that is where our Department came into play. We must also look to Fáilte Ireland and other agencies that have capital funds.

I have asked officials in our Department to try to identify where moneys are already being spent on infrastructure so we can try to pull together a pool of money for marine infrastructure investment. This will involve taking the €4.3 million we are lucky enough to have this year and some moneys from other Departments. If we could get to a notional fund total of €8 million to €10 million annually, then we could make real differences. We could look at some key projects, perhaps on an annual basis, that would involve €1 million or up to €2 million. It could be that kind of thing. It is the very early stages but, based on people who have come to me in the past and places I have visited, I am trying to develop something in that area. I look forward to the help and support of the Senators in that regard.