I thank you for allowing me, Sir, contribute to this adjournment debate in regard to the deferral of a public inquiry into the siting of a marina in the town of Dingle. I might give the House some indication of events leading up to the calling of this public inquiry.
On 12 March 1990 local people saw a public advertisement in the newpapers to the effect that the local Dingle Skelligs Hotel was seeking permission, under the provisions of the Foreshore Act, 1933, for the lease of a portion of the foreshore. It will be appreciated that any interference with the foreshore in any part of this country can be a very sensitive and emotional matter. Following that public announcement the local Chamber of Commerce, harbour board and tourist interests on three occasions sought an opportunity to discuss the merits and demerits of the proposition with the Minister for the Marine. Regrettably, there was no response to their requests. Therefore, it became incumbent on the Chamber of Commerce, and the leading body representing the citizens of Dingle, to write to the Department on 15 August 1990 demanding a public sworn inquiry arising from the 1933 Act before the Department could concede any lease to anybody. That demand was posted on 15 August 1990 but the matter rested there until 6 March 1991 when a public notice was issued in the newspapers to the effect that a public sworn inquiry was about to be convened in the Hillgrove Hotel in Dingle at 10 a.m. on 10 April 1991.
Following that announcement the people associated with the Chamber of Commerce and other bodies set themselves the task — through a local firm of solicitors, E. M. Burke and Company of Green Street, Dingle — of assembling all the professional, legal, Senior and Junior Counsel, engineering, planning and ancillary services personnel. A series of consultations, correspondence and communications was engaged in and those opposed to the siting of a marina in the vicinity of the Dingle Skelligs Hotel finally assembled at 10 a.m. on 10 April 1991. All this involved immense cost in terms of capacity and resources to bodies such as the Dingle Chamber of Commerce and harbour board.
It was with tremendous surprise and anger that the firm representing the community demanding this public inquiry learned, midday on Monday, some 36 hours before the inquiry was due to begin, that a caller to the solicitor's office had told them that he had heard on Raidio na Gaeltachta, on the midday news, that the inquiry had been either postponed or cancelled. The legal representative, having processed the case on behalf of the local community, felt deeply aggrieved. In spite of any queries he made over the ensuing two or three hours, he received no information except that obtained from the Hillgrove Hotel who had been notified that the inquiry had been deferred, as was the solicitor from Listowel dealing with the Dingle Skelligs Hotel. He telephoned the legal representatives of the Chamber of Commerce to so inform them. It was not until almost 6 o'clock that evening that the main advocate received confirmation of what was happening. At a public meeting, well attended on that evening——
