Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach very much, and the committee also, for having me. I want to further thank the witnesses from Waterways Ireland for coming in today.

We are basically here about houseboat fees where we hear about money in, repeatedly, but do not hear a great deal about services. I want to go back so that the committee understands where I am coming from when I am talking about fees and money.

Mr. Rowe stated last week at the Committee of Public Accounts that no unauthorised developments had been constructed in the past three years but that since that, on 4 July, I have been informed that 15 unauthorised developments have been built in the past three years. One is where 100 m of reed bank was dug out and taken away in the past 12 months. There is also a place on Lough Derg in County Clare, north of Killaloe, and another site with possible development there. Mr. Rowe accepted at the meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts that there were more than 70 large unauthorised commercial developments. The question arose then as to whether Waterways Ireland had done costings on how much revenue has been generated by these unauthorised developments and how much revenue it is missing out on as a result of them.

The reason I asked that question is that there are many people in the Gallery facing massive hikes in fees, yet we have many huge unauthorised developments. I have a photograph of one at Portaneena, County Westmeath, which Waterways Ireland is well aware of. That is a huge encroachment where there are perhaps 60 boats there but no revenue is coming from this, yet we have people here in the Gallery were facing huge hikes in fees. Why can Waterways Ireland not get its own house in order first to see how much money it is losing on all of these unauthorised developments and boats that are moored up? Who is getting the money? Perhaps, as Mr. Rowe said in his opening statement, "We create social, economic and environmental well-being valued at over €600 million annually."

That is a lot of money. That is pertinent to the question. We are talking about raising fees, which are fairly substantial in Dublin. Even the suburban fees are expensive. I spoke to Mr. Rowe the last time he was before the housing committee. There are more than 400 unauthorised developments yet, it seems to me, it is those who are on these boats - the live-aboard boats and so forth - who are being punished while Waterways Ireland has not even got its books in order yet. Surely, if it is done properly the amount of revenue coming from there should offset the need for the price rises? Is that possible?