First of all, I want to thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing this matter to be discussed in the House this evening and the Minister for making himself available to discuss this important matter.
I must, at the outset, say that the matter being discussed here is but a part of what has developed into a very serious problem on the River Shannon—and Lough Derg in particular—over the past few weeks. In case Members of the House are not familiar with the specific matter I have raised, I shall give a very brief background to what has happened.
At the end of last month the water level in Lough Derg was reduced by about five feet. I understand that there is in existence a statutory right to interfere with or lower, the level of any part of the Shannon, when it becomes necessary to do so for the purposes of generating electricity. I am not familiar with the source of that statutory right. I realise that it is not the Minister's direct responsibility. I should, nevertheless, be grateful if he or some of his staff, would refer me to the particular statutory foundation for this right.
The fact is that the level of water in Lough Derg was reduced. A number of consequences flowed from that. First, the level of the water was reduced at such a rate that a bank, or dam, at Fort Henry, near the Ardnacrusha generating station, subsided, as a result of which the water level will have to remain low for some weeks in order to have repairs effected. I understand that attempts have been made already to repair the bank, but that, because of the difficult conditions, it has not been possible to effect repairs properly. The actual reduction of the level of the water in Lough Derg has had a number of other very serious consequences, one of the major consequences being that none, or almost none, of the harbours around Lough Derg is navigable. Consequently, traders—be they publicans, or restaurateurs, or shopkeepers—operating from these little villages and hamlets around the lake have been denied access to a very large market of visitors who are cruising on the Shannon. To give the House some idea of the extent of that market—in 1978 about 22,000 people enjoyed a cruise on the Shannon, 20,000 of whom were foreigners, Continentals.
Another problem that has been created is that the rocks beneath the water level are now more hazardous and many boats are actually becoming grounded on rocks and sandbanks. The buoys that are there to mark these danger points on the lake have moved, or have been displaced, as a result of the lowering of the level of the water. Severe dangers are created now for people who observe the buoys and who are not familiar with the river, or with the lake. People who now take the buoys at their face value and go to one or other side of them as may be appropriate can, in fact, manage to go directly onto the point against which the buoys should be warning them.
Farmers are being put to great difficulty. Many new acres have been created as a result of the lowering of the level of the water and cattle can travel from one farm to another now with great ease, by simply walking along the newly created shoreline.
Very many of the hire-boat operators have been put to great cost. Their marinas along the lake are unusable. I have witnessed the sight of two cruisers, worth something in the order of £44,000, never used, lying in a harbour, at a loss to the boat owner of revenue of £500 per week per boat. They just cannot be got out of the harbour. The harbour they are in was the subject of an investment of £100,000 last winter; that harbour is now lying idle and useless.
Visitors from the Continent, who read in the travel brochures about the delights that can be experienced by visiting various places in Lough Derg, come to find not only are there difficulties with telecommunications and petrol but also, to their horror, that there is difficulty with the waters that they have come to use. They are frustrated and annoyed.
I freely acknowledge the necessity to use water supply to generate the vital power of electricity—particularly in the circumstances of the present energy crisis—but whoever is responsible should, at least, have engaged in a proper public relations exercise to explain to tourists what has happened and what the difficulty is. At the moment, the hire-boat operators are trying to explain to people what happened. I understand that the majority of visitors are taking it very well; they are enjoying the extra adventure involved in getting them to their boats. However, some of them are annoyed and believe that there is a con-job behind the boat-hire business on the Shannon. For example, many of the boats are now only accessible by using dinghies to get people from the marinas out to the boats. I know of one German visitor who was unfortunate enough to break his arm in the course of travelling across other boats to get his luggage on to the boat that he had hired.
A very great deal of inconvenience and a major loss in revenue have occurred as a result of this lowering of the water level. If it were counted up in terms of the loss of use of the harbours, on which so much public money has been spent, add to that the amount of money that is being lost to boat-hire operators as a result of their boats being aground and being unusable; add to that the amount of damage that has been done to boats which have gone aground; probably the biggest loss is the lost revenue to traders in all the ports, coves and hamlets around Lough Derg—if that is all added up I believe that the loss of revenue to the State would literally amount to millions of pounds.
As I understand it, the Office of Public Works are responsible for the maintenance of the lake. By that I would understand that they have a responsibility for the maintenance of the banks of the shoreline; that they would have a responsibility for harbours that are public, rather than private, or marinas that are public; responsibility for the proper marking of danger spots on the lake, and for any other matters that would arise in relation to the navigation of boats on Lough Derg.
So far as I can judge the Office of Public Works have taken no steps in relation to this matter. There is one boat owned by the Office of Public Works, which is normally on Lough Derg kept there for any maintenance that may arise. I understand from one of the hire-boat operators that a couple of days after the crisis, this boat disappeared up river and has not been seen since. I should like to ask the Minister whether, before the ESB took the action of lowering the level of the water in Lough Derg, they consulted with the Board of Works. They certainly did not consult with anybody else. I know several hire-boat operators who were never consulted about this matter, and were taken completely by surprise when the level of water was reduced literally in the course of a couple of days. These people have been put to a great loss. If the Office of Public Works had been informed, they could have taken steps certainly to correct the displacement of the warning buoys that took place and also to help some of the harbours of the little villages that benefit from the market created by the people who cruise in boats on the Shannon. In relation to two or three of these villages the least amount of help, the least amount of dredging, over a very small distance of water would enable these boats to come in to dock for the night and would enable the visitors to use the facilities afforded by the villages for the mutual benefit both of the visitors and the traders. Why was no attempt made by the Office of Public Works to help to alleviate the problems that were created? Was the Minister or the Office of Public Works given notice of the action that was taken by the Electricity Supply Board? Has the Minister had consultations with the ESB since this action was taken? If so what results might everybody affected by this expect as a consequence of those consultations? Will the Minister say how long it will take for the water level to be restored to a more reasonable level, or what steps it is proposed to take in the future to ensure that the ESB do not take action of a similar nature without putting people on notice? Is there any possibility that this might recur in the future?
The ESB have been very slow to indicate the reasons for having lowered the level of the water by so much. For example, we were led to believe at the start that the reason was the necessity to increase the output in Ardnacrusha hydro-electric station. We then heard the rumour that the bursting of the bank caused a great wastage of water and that this was the reason why the water level had to be reduced by five feet. We were led to believe then that an industrial dispute at the Poolbeg generating station caused the difficulty. If in fact it is because of the industrial dispute at Poolbeg one can hope that there will not be a recurrence of this, but if it is the general energy problem that has been occurring within the ESB—day by day we are suffering power cuts at the moment—is it likely that the level of water in Lough Derg is never going to be restored to a reasonable level? Before the ESB decide on matters of this nature do they consult with any other bodies so as to measure the worth of the electricity they produce against the loss of revenue that accrues to so many other interested parties? If there is a danger of this sort of thing recurring will the Office of Public Works embark on a programme to ensure that the harbours around Lough Derg——
