Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will mention that issue to her but that is a resource issue on which she will have to make a decision. Coastal protection generally is not under my remit. My portfolio covers the marine and I am responsible for seven fishery harbours. Most of them were not badly damaged. The majority of the projects on which we will work with local authorities are local authority owned and managed harbours, piers, slipways, ladders, docking facilities, breakwaters and so on. I will focus with local authorities in counties Clare and Galway, in particular, and other counties on assessing the cost of rebuilding essential infrastructure both for the fishing community, tourists, anglers and leisure users and for the rescue services in the case of some of the piers I visited. The local authorities will need to discuss the broader coastal issues relating to roads, causeways and bridges between islands, for example, in west Galway, with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government.

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