asked the Minister for Finance if £500,000 will be made available to improve the channel between Meelick Weir and Banagher, County Galway.
Written Answers. - County Galway Channel.
36.
As prescribed by the Shannon Navigation Acts, the statutory function of the Commissioners of Public Works in respect of this stretch of channel is to maintain it as part of a public navigable waterway. That function is discharged and, furthermore, the sluice gates at Meelick Weir are operated so as to afford the maximum relief of flooding.
Improvement of the channel under the Arterial Drainage Act, 1945, could be considered by the commissioners only in the context of a comprehensive arterial drainage scheme for the catchment, as prescribed by the Act. As the Act does not provide for the carrying out of piecemeal work for the relief of particular areas in a catchment, the question of the provision of funds for the improvement by the commissioners of the Banagher to Meelick Weir reach does not arise.