Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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249. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the next steps that are in the delivery of phase 3 of the Pier at An Caladh Mór, Inis Meáin, Contae na Gaillimhe. [26859/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Development of the Caladh Mór Pier on Inis Meáin is included in the National Development Plan. As the Deputy will be aware, Galway County Council is responsible for the development of stage 3 of this project. 

As part of the preparatory works, the National Maritime College of Ireland (NMCI) was instructed by Galway County Council to develop a model simulation for the harbour. Galway County Council has collated the technical specifications of the key vessels that use the harbour and this data will be fed into the simulation. It is hoped that the simulation will be completed, and tested with feedback given, by the end of August. 

To feed into this process, additional bathymetric studies are also to be carried out in the harbour to gather further data and it is hoped that these will be completed in the coming weeks. It is important to note that this work is highly dependent on weather and marine conditions. 

Once this work has been completed, Galway County Council will incorporate the findings into a draft business case. Following on from this, my Department will be in a position to evaluate the next steps in the process.