Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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263. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality to examine the maps (details supplied) and outline why Ordnance Survey Ireland adjusted the shoreline and foreshore in 2014 from its original state in 1912, moving it several hundred feet into the lake and effectively giving a private company property that should belong to Waterways Ireland; and when, why and by whom this was done and sanctioned. [6329/16]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSI) is the national mapping agency of Ireland. It is the State body responsible for the official, definitive surveying and topographic mapping of the Republic of Ireland. As this mapping is topographic, it only represents the physical features on the ground at the time of the survey. The mapping details supplied refer to the physical features of a section of Killinure Lough, County Westmeath. These particular features were captured by Ordnance Survey Ireland in 2004 and accordingly updated.

In 1985, the then Chief Boundary Surveyor delegated authority for minor boundary changes to the Ordnance Survey. It was within this delegation of authority that the townland modifications at Killinure Lough took place. However, I am advised by Ordnance Survey Ireland that acting on legal advice received from the Office of the Attorney General, the original cartographic representation of the townlands affected by the lake line change is being re-established as per the original Boundary Register and Sketch Maps archived in the National Archives.

I should clarify that Ordnance Survey Ireland maps never indicate legal property boundaries, nor do they show ownership of physical features. Although some property boundaries may be coincident with surveyed map features, no assumptions should be made in these instances and consequently it is not possible to identify a legal property boundary from an OSI map.