This Bill has been introduced because Galway County Council felt, for some time past, that there was a difficulty concerning the legal status of certain members of this board and, in order, amongst other things, to set that matter right. The objects of this legislation are twofold: firstly, to reconstitute the board of trustees of the Lough Corrib navigation, and, secondly, to revise the proportions in which the contributions of the local bodies concerned are made towards the expenses of the navigation.
This navigation was constructed by the Commissioners of Public Works for navigation, drainage and water power under the code of Drainage Acts. On completion it was vested, under the Drainage (Ireland) Act, 1856, in a board of trustees consisting of representatives of the three contributing areas of Galway City and the counties of Galway and Mayo. The functions of the board related to the maintenance of the navigation, including bridges in Galway, canal locks and piers, beacons and buoys in Lough Corrib and the adjacent loughs and rivers. The navigation has not been used for passenger transport since 1931, in which year the steamer service between Cong and the City of Galway was discontinued and merchandise traffic in recent yeas has consisted chiefly in turf and fishing boats.
The Act of 1856 provided that every trustee should be either the agent of an estate of certain yearly valuation or should be possessed of property qualifications of a considerable value. Galway County Council has drawn attention to the fact that an alteration in the constitution of the board was desirable as, having regard to the statutory qualifications, there was doubt as to whether certain members of the board were legally qualified to act and there was difficulty in finding suitably qualified persons to fill vacancies. There are at present four vacancies on the board.
Under existing legislation the board consists of 12 members, six representing County Galway, three County Mayo and three Galway City. It is now proposed that the reconstituted board should be comprised of eight members, five to be elected by Galway Corporation, two by Galway County Council and one by Mayo County Council. This representation is based roughly on the proportionate expenditure in the different areas. Instead of a property qualification it is proposed that any person who is a local government elector for the area represented shall be eligible. The trustees will be appointed by the contributing authorities in each year in which a local government election is held. At present the trustees hold office until they die, resign or are removed. One county manager, appointed by the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, has functions analogous to those of the manager in respect to the county council.
The Act of 1856 provided that the cost of maintaining the navigation, so far as it could not be defrayed out of income from tolls, etc., should be borne by the townlands, baronies, etc., and in the proportions set out in a navigation award of 1859. This award fixed the following proportions:—County Galway, 52 per cent.; County Mayo, 32 per cent.; Galway City, 16 per cent., area of the "County of the Town."
These figures now bear no relationship to the comparative cost of maintaining the navigation within each area. Mayo County Council have, for instance, represented that they should be relieved of their liability to contribute to the board on the grounds that the navigation is of little or no advantage to County Mayo, the traffic, so far as that county is concerned, having been practically limited to the despatch of turf to the Galway side of the Lough. Mayo County Council were also concerned that under the existing law they might have to bear a portion of the cost of maintaining certain bridges across the navigation in the Galway urban area, these bridges having been reconstructed on a larger scale than the original bridges in connection with a road improvement scheme and which new structures, the council held, conferred no benefits on the population of County Mayo.
Provision is, accordingly, made for a revision of the contributions (where the expenditure of the board is in excess of income) as follows:— Galway Corporation, 60 per cent.; Galway County Council, 30 per cent.; Mayo County Council, 10 per cent. These revised contributions are related more closely to the prevailing distribution of expenditure. The expenses incurred by the contributing local authorities are to be raised by means of the poor rate and, in the case of the county councils, as a county-at-large charge, instead of as a charge on specified areas as at present. The amount of the levy by the board of trustees on the local contributors has varied but has not exceeded £900 a year but the portion of this sum chargeable on the Mayo County Council has been in arrears for some years according to the last audited statements. The average annual expenditure in the past three years was about £600 and at 31st December, 1944, the board had a balance in hand of £204.
Having regard to the fact that the navigation is now used only to a very limited extent and that parts were never even completed, it is proposed to provide a means for abandoning or transferring any works comprised in the navigation under certain conditions to a local or drainage authority without having to resort to the elaborate machinery provided in the Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 1888. Owing to the possibility of abandonment or transfer of certain works power is taken to vary the proportions in which contributions of the local authorities shall be payable.
Provision is also made in the Bill to empower a contributing local authority, after consultation with the board of trustees, to execute and maintain works such as bridges, where the public interest requires the work to be of a more elaborate nature than would be required for the purposes of the navigation. The cost is to be allocated, where necessary, between the local authority and the board of trustees, subject to the decision by the Minister for Local Government and Public Health on any questions arising.
There has been some doubt as to the precise legal liability for maintenance as between the local authority and the board of trustees in regard to, at least, one of the existing bridges over the Eglinton Canal. To clear these doubts and having regard to the fact that the maintenance of the bridges and the roadway from Wood Quay to the public road in Galway is, in present circumstances, more appropriate to the local authority than to the board of trustees, provision is made to place such liability on Galway Corporation, being the local authority concerned. This provision excludes the possibility of Mayo County Council being held liable to contribute towards the cost of maintenance of these bridges.
No cost to the Exchequer is involved in the operation of the measure.