asked the Minister for Finance the reason a bridge has not been replaced by the Board of Works following drainage operations on the land of a person (details supplied) in County Meath, and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Replacement of Bridge.
6.
The replacement of a bridge on the lands in question does not arise as there is no evidence that a bridge existed pre-drainage at this location.
Will the Minister accept that the Board of Works replaced a number of bridges along the river in this area and that some of this man's land cannot now be reached because of the deepening of the river by the Board of Works?
(Interruptions.)
Mr. Bruton
There are two divisions involving the crossing of the river. In one case the pre-existing means of crossing the river was a ford which was quite shallow and which has been restored by concreting undertaken by the Board of Works under the new drainage system to a similar degree of shallowness. So, there has not been a deterioration in the pre-existing situation.
(Interruptions.)
Who will get the wet foot?
In the case of the other division——
(Interruptions.)
——the crossing required is to a very small plot of land of about one and a half acres and I understand that the channel at that point was deepened by two feet. However, there was not a bridge at this location at any stage and therefore it is not a question of replacing what was not there. In any event, to provide a bridge to one and a half acres of land would be a very expensive operation and it would be almost as——
(Interruptions.)
——cost effective to buy the one and a half acres, as to build a bridge.
Will the Minister attempt to build a bridge between himself and his constituency colleague, so that they can discuss this matter outside of the House without taking up the time of the House on an issue of such major importance?
(Interruptions.)
Deputy Farrelly on a point of order.
Is Deputy O'Kennedy entitled to tell me——
Ask him outside.
——whom I should ask questions of in this House and is he suggesting that the questions he has asked in the last two or three years——
(Interruptions.)
—— to which we have been listening in the House and which are costing an incredible amount of money to the taxpayer, are relevant? Half of the time the Deputy has taken up on the previous question, which he did not ask, was irrelevant, when we were talking about the reduction in inflation.
(Interruptions.)
Deputy Farrelly's question was in order. If it were not in order it would not have appeared on the Order Paper.