asked the Minister for the Marine if, in view of the widespread dissatisfaction amongst fishermen with the result of the dredging of the harbour at Helvick, County Waterford, officials from his Department will meet with representatives of the fishermen to see if a satisfactory conclusion to the matter can be reached.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Dredging of Harbour.
10.
I understand that with the assistance of a 50 per cent grant from the Department of the Marine Waterford County Council placed a contract for the carrying out of some dredging work at the fishery harbour at Helvick Head, County Waterford, in November-December 1988. I understand that due to a combination of circumstances the planned work was not completed.
I further understand that the county manager of Waterford suggested to the fishermen that they might employ a consultant to survey the harbour and I gather that the fishermen are considering this suggestion. In fact, I heard reports on Raidió na Gaeltachta this morning from the deisceart go bhfuil siad ag obair ar seo agus is dóigh liom go mbeidh an plean seo acu le haghaidh an bhainisteoir contae agus dúinne taobh istigh de achar gearr. I understand from reports that they have proceeded and I will arrange for officials from my Department to meet with them, following receipt of the fishermen's consultants' report.
I do not know if the Minister is aware that even though a considerable amount of money has been spent on this operation the end result will probably be worse than what pertained before the work started. The fishermen are extremely annoyed that the dredging scheme went so badly. When the Minister said he would get officials from his Department to meet with them, was he referring to the fishermen concerned in Helvick?
Both the Minister and I have met more representatives and fishermen in the past two years than the previous Ministers did in four and a half years. When this report is ready — and as I said reports on Raidió na Gaeltachta this morning suggest that the report will be ready within a short period — officials from the Department will meet with a deputation of fishermen. In fact, I think they met on numerous occasions, but maybe not in the same circumstances, during November-December. I know the Deputy's interest in Helvick and we are very anxious that the dredging of the harbour and the approach channel will be carried out and that the road to the fishery co-operative will be tarmacadamed. We were advised at the time that £50,000 would be sufficient to carry out all this work, but unfortunately there were some hiccups at the time. It is a matter I will gladly discuss with the Deputy and give him our views. I do not think it is a matter that could easily be discussed publicly.
The dredging scheme went badly wrong and the problems now are greater than before the work started. Who is drawing up the report to which the Minister referred in his reply and when does he expect it to be published?
This was suggested by the county manager, Mr. Hurley. The reports of the meeting of Waterford County Council would give a reasonable insight into the problems the Departmental engineer and others carrying out the work encountered. It was suggested by the county manager that the fishermen's representatives should themselves have a report prepared on what further works they envisaged needed to be carried out. I am reasonably familiar with Helvick Harbour and the problems that obtained there with neap tides for larger boats gaining access. The site survey conducted at the time indicated that the bar consisted of sand and silt and that much tougher conditions actually existed, such as stone and cobble being unexpectedly encountered. That caused a delay but all the material was subsequently removed by the dredger. The channel through the bar achieved design level for the most part of 2.7 metres or 9 feet. Just under two-thirds of the inner bar basin was removed. I can agree that the work has not been completed to our satisfaction. We have ascertained that, because of the lack of co-operation on the part of some people, the loss of time for which the State had to pay was some £4,000 — which may not appear to be a lot but is almost 9 per cent of the overall cost. I would be only too pleased to discuss the matter with Deputy Deasy in an endeavour to have the problem resolved.
It appears that the wrong type of dredger was used.