asked the Minister for Finance when work will commence on the pier at Kilcummin, Ballina, County Mayo.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Mayo Piers.
11.
Mr. Kenny
The Commissioners of Public Works at the request of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries have been investigating proposals for improvement works at Kilcummin Pier. Their engineer's report on the latest of these proposals is in preparation and will be furnished to the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries in the very near future. It will then be a matter for that Department to decide upon the works to be carried out.
How long is this report taking?
Mr. Kenny
Is it the reason for the delay the Deputy wants to know?
Why has it taken two years to get this report?
Mr. Kenny
I will explain it to the Deputy. The improvements recommended for Kilcummin Pier by the County Mayo Harbour Survey team were the extension of the slip, improvement of the boatyard and provision of a bigger winch, all estimated, in July, 1972, to cost £11,000. Following local consultations the commissioners were asked by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries to examine revised requirements and, in May, 1974, the commissioners submitted two alternative proposals to the Department. The first proposal, estimated to cost £11,500, provided for replacement of the outer half of the existing strong-wall by a similar wall in concrete, aligned in a south-easterly direction, and the installation of a two-ton winch. The second proposal, estimated to cost £40,000, provided for demolition of the outer half of the existing strong-wall, incorporation of the remainder in a new pier, 12 feet wide with a six foot wide strong-wall, and the installation of a one-ton hand-operated crane. In July, 1974, the Department requested an estimate of cost of amending the first of the schemes mentioned, by enlargement of the outer end of the strong-wall to provide a small landing platform on which a crane would be erected. Due to heavy commitments of the marine engineering staff, particularly on projects in the Galway-Mayo area, the commissioners have been unable to submit their report to the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. However, every effort will be made to furnish the required report and estimate to that Department within the next few weeks.
Knowing that the Parliamentary Secretary has been on the site and that he is aware of the situation, I would ask him, as a matter of urgent priority—before somebody is drowned—to have this report completed.
Mr. Kenny
To the best of my ability I will have it done within the next few weeks.
12.
asked the Minister for Finance if he is satisfied with the present condition of the pier at Killala, County Mayo.
Mr. Kenny
An improvement scheme in the fishery interests has been carried out to the existing pier at Killala by the Commissioners of Public works on behalf of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. The pier is adequate for this purchase but, due to site conditions and the development of land and sea traffic, additional piling and dredging are considered necessary.
I am aware that this is Deputy Calleary's area. But would the Parliamentary Secretary agree with me that the pier is subsiding in the middle and that proposals made by the previous Administration to do some pile-driving should have been done at this time? In fact, the Parliamentary Secretary has not carried out the intentions of the previous Administration.
Mr. Kenny
As far as I am concerned, that pier should never have been sited in that spot because it is in miles and miles of mud. If the former Administration were correct, the location of that pier should have been on the edge of the deep water half a mile further out on Inch Island. This has gone on now for five years. The very first week I was in office I received a call from the Killala Development Committee. I met them on the pier and, to a layman's eye, it appeared that the pier would topple over but for the fact that we are now going to pile-drive from the mainland out to the portion that might fall in. I feel sure it will be done this year.
I understood the Parliamentary Secretary to say it will be done this year. I should merely like to draw the attention of the Chair to the fact that I put down a series of questions to the Parliamentary Secretary about initiatives taken by the previous Administration, and I think some of them have been transferred to Agriculture and Fisheries. At that stage, decisions had been taken and they had been transferred to the Office of Public Works to carry out the work. I am sorry they are not all here together. I am not trying to interfere in Deputy Calleary's area.
That is a matter over which the Chair has no control.
Could the Parliamentary Secretary tell me what decision was made in the conversations and consultations that the Mayo county engineer had with the Office of Public Works in relation to a contribution to this?
That would be a separate matter.
Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that Mayo County Council have some reservations about paying the full contributions requested in this case, for a particular reason?
Mr. Kenny
I understand perfectly what the Deputy is getting at and negotiations are pending regarding the contributions.
Question No. 13.
Might I just add that they have been pending for a year?
Mr. Kenny
Money has been fairly scarce for a year also.
Would the Parliamentary Secretary agree that he has the same technical staff as I had when I held his office?
Mr. Kenny
Perhaps the Deputy was a harder task master; I do not know.