I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time. This Bill deals with something about which most Deputies, other than those resident in Galway and Mayo, probably never heard, the Lough Corrib navigation. The objects of the Bill are twofold: first, to reconstitute the board of trustees of the navigation, and, secondly, to revise the proportions in which the contributions of the local bodies concerned are made towards the expenses of the navigation.
The Lough Corrib navigation was constructed by the Commissioners of Public Works for navigation, drainage and waterpower under the code of Drainage Acts. When it was completed, it was vested, under the Drainage Act of 1856, in a board of trustees consisting of representatives of the three contributing areas, Galway City, Galway County and Mayo County. The functions of the board related to the maintenance of the navigation, including bridges in Galway, canal locks and piers, beacons and buoys in Lough Corrib and in the adjacent loughs and rivers. This Bill, however, does not affect the functions, powers and duties of the trustees. The navigation has not in fact been used for passenger transport since 1931, in which year the steamer service which formerly operated between Cong and the City of Galway was discontinued and in recent years merchandise traffic has consisted, chiefly, if not solely, of turf and fishing boats.
The Act of 1856, provided that every trustee should either be an agent of an estate of a certain yearly valuation or should be possessed of property qualifications of a considerable value. The Galway County Council has drawn attention to the fact that an alteration in the constitution of the board was desirable as, having regard to these statutory qualifications, there was doubt as to whether certain members of the present board were legally qualified to act and that there was difficulty in finding suitable qualified persons to fill the vacancies. There are at present four vacancies on the board.
Under the existing legislation, the board consists of 12 members, six of whom represent County Galway, three County Mayo and three Galway City. It is proposed in this Bill that the reconstituted board should be comprised of eight members, five to be elected by the Galway Corporation, two by the Galway County Council and one by the Mayo County Council. That altered representation is based roughly upon the proportionate expenditure in the different areas. Instead of the property qualification, it is proposed that any person who is a local government elector for the areas to be represented shall be eligible. The trustees will be appointed by the contributing authorities in each year in which a local government election is held. At present the trustees hold office until they die, resign or are removed. One of the county managers, to be determined by the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, will be manager of the board of trustees, with functions analogous to those of a manager in respect of a county council.
The Act of 1856, to which I have referred, provided that the cost of maintaining navigation, in so far as it was not defrayed out of the income of the trustees from tolls and similar charges, should be borne by the townlands and baronies in the proportion set out in a navigational award of 1859. That award fixed the following proportions:— County Galway, 52 per cent.; County Mayo, 32 per cent., and the county of the town of Galway, which does not correspond to the present administrative area of Galway City, 16 per cent. These figures now bear no relationship to the comparative cost of maintaining the navigation within each area. Mayo County Council have, for instance, represented that they should be relieved of their liability to contribute to the board on the ground that the navigation is of little or no advantage to the County Mayo, the traffic, so far as that county is concerned, having been practically limited to the despatch of turf to the Galway side of the lough. Mayo County Council are also concerned that under the existing law they might have to bear a portion of the cost of maintaining certain bridges across the navigation in the Galway urban area, these bridges having been reconstructed on a larger scale than the original bridges in connection with a road improvement scheme, and which new structures, the Mayo County Council hold, confer no benefits on the population of their county.
Provision is accordingly made for a revision of the contributions to the extent that the expenditure of the board will exceed its income, as follows: the proposed new contributions will be Galway Corporation, 60 per cent.; Galway County Council, 30 per cent., and Mayo County Council, 10 per cent. These revised contributions are related more closely to the prevailing distribution of expenditure. The expenses incurred and contributed by the local authorities are to be raised by means of the poor rate, in the case of the county councils as a county-at-large charge instead of a charge upon specified areas as at present. The amount of the levy by the board of trustees on the local contributors has varied from year to year, but has not exceeded £900 a year. The proportion of that sum chargeable on the Mayo County Council has been in arrears for some years, according to the last audited statement. The average annual expenditure in the past three years has been about £600, and at the end of last year the board had a balance in hand of £204. Having regard to the fact that the navigation is now used only to a very limited extent, and that parts of it were, in fact, never completed, it is proposed to provide means for abandoning or for transferring any works comprised in the navigation under certain conditions to local or drainage authorities without having to resort to the elaborate machinery provided in the Railway and Canal Traffic Act. Owing to the possibility of abandoning or transferring certain works, power is taken to vary the proportions in which the contributions to the local authorities will be payable. Provision is also made in the Bill to empower the contributing local authorities, after consultation with the board of trustees, to execute and maintain such works as bridges where the public interest requires the work to be of a more elaborate nature than would be required for the purposes of the navigation. In such cases, the cost is to be allocated between the local authority and the board of trustees, subject to the decision of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health on any questions which may arise.
There has been some doubt as to the precise legal liability for maintenance, as between the local authority and the board of trustees, in regard to, at least, one of the existing bridges over the Eglinton Canal. To clear up these doubts, and having regard to the fact that the maintenance of the bridges on the roadway from Wood Quay to the public road in Galway is, in present circumstances, more appropriate to the local authority than to the board of trustees, provision is made to place such liability on the Galway Corporation, the Galway Corporation being the local authority concerned. That provision excludes the possibility of the Mayo County Council being held liable to contribute towards the cost of the maintenance of these bridges.
These are all the provisions of the Bill, the enactment of which will involve no cost on public funds.