Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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944. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he received the application for the dredging of Cé Heilbhic from Waterford County Council before 4 April; and if he will prioritise the works that are so badly needed now that the RNLI lifeboat and local fishermen are unable to go to sea either side of high tide. [24414/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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The responsibility for the development and maintenance of local authority owned piers, harbours and slipways rests with each local authority. The relevant local authority in the case of Cé Heilbhic is Waterford City & County Council.

As part of the annual Fishery Harbour and Coastal Infrastructure Development Programme, my Department provides funding to assist coastal local authorities in carrying out small scale projects for the development and repair of piers, harbours and slipways in their ownership. 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.

Overall, since 2011, Waterford City & County Council has received a total of €6.75 million for capital infrastructure works from my Department, including almost €1.2 million for capital works at Cé Heilbhic.

Between 2011 and 2021 specifically, the Council received funding of €3.64 million, of which €680,000 was in respect of works at Cé Heilbhic. More recently, in 2022 and 2023, the Council was reimbursed €3.11 million by my Department for 10 capital projects through the Brexit Adjustment Local Authority Marine Infrastructure (BALAMI) scheme, of which €557,000 was in respect of repair and construction works at Cé Heilbhic.

On March 13th last, Minister of State Dooley and I announced an allocation of €4.3 million funding for the 2025 Programme. The closing date for submission of applications was Friday April 4th. Waterford City & County Council did not submit any applications for consideration for this year’s scheme.