I wish to avail of the opportunity afforded by this Bill to draw the Minister's attention to problems similar to the one mentioned by Deputy Kitt. I am concerned about the condition of the river Corrib and of Lake Corrib and of the difficulties that exist in relation to tackling these problems.
In particular there is the difficulty regarding responsibility for the work that is needed to deal with the problems. Perhaps the Minister would take note of some of the matters I mention and ascertain who is responsible for dealing with them. He might be able to tell us, too, whether Bord Fáilte will provide for this work any of the moneys being voted to them.
Lake Corrib has been affected slightly by some form of pollution. This is nothing serious apart from the question of the enrichment of the lower lake which was referred to in the recent Foras Forbartha report. This enrichment is causing excessive growth of weed and plant life and the growth, in turn, is creating the further problem of silting. This lake is a shallow one so that the silting is causing grave concern to the tourist interests in the whole region as well as to the clubs and associations who promote the use of the Corrib for recreational purposes and for those who participate in all kinds of water sports. The silting is most serious at the point where the lake flows into the river. The problem has become so bad that passage of keel boats from the river to the lake is very difficult. Were it not for a commercial concern who operate a water bus between the city and Annaghdown, many local people believe that it would be impossible for a water boat to make its way from the river into the lake. The action of the propellors of the water bus helps to keep the silt clear in one small central channel.
As this growth in weeds restricts seriously the movements of all boats on the surface of the water, fishing is affected, too. The problem has reached an alarming proportion and the tragedy is that there is nobody dealing with it. The matter has been raised at meetings of Galway County Council in whose local authority the lake is. They have certain responsibilities in this regard but the county manager has stated that he has no statutory authority for the expenditure of any moneys on the clearing of silt from the lower lake. The Office of Public Works who carried out a major drainage scheme in the Galway area some years ago and who have been maintaining it since, have informed me by letter that they had no responsibility in the matter, that they are obliged only to comply with certain Acts and that under those Acts their responsibility does not extend to the removing of silt of the type I have mentioned.
Another authority with certain responsibilities in the area is the Corrib Navigation Board but they claim that this problem is not their responsibility, that they are responsible only for the navigation channel which, as I have explained, has been kept open as a result of the action of one boat. Any deviation from that narrow channel would put a boat in difficulty. Lake Corrib is one of the finest lakes in Europe but it is deteriorating rapidly. In these circumstances I am making a special plea to the Minister, having regard to the concern expressed by him on several occasions both in this House and outside it and having regard, too, to the statement made by Mr. P.V. Doyle as Chairman of Bord Fáilte. He indicates in their annual report that the board seem to realise at last that this is an area where they must become active, where they must show an interest and make a financial contribution if many of the pollution and silting problems are to be dealt with.
Lake Corrib is dying a slow death which is being watched in great silence by the public bodies. I hope that the Minister will have this whole matter examined and that he will allocate to Bord Fáilte a proportion of these moneys for the purpose of dealing with this problem. The work will involve heavy capital expenditure because of the heavy machinery that will be required to carry out the work successfully. If any action taken by the Minister achieves such an outcome, he will get the appreciation he deserves from all concerned.
There is a similar dilemma in respect of the rivers that flow through Galway city. Again, nobody has responsibility for dealing with the situation and public bodies there are reluctant to spend their funds in case they are surcharged for spending money on works in respect of which they have not statutory authority.
Galway was built on a series of rivers many of which are underneath the buildings but some of those that are exposed and which flow freely through that old and beautiful city are going into decay because of excessive weed growth. I ask Bord Fáilte to interest themselves in this problem and to have it attended to fairly soon. That is the main point I wish to make and if it is dealt with we shall all be very grateful to the Minister.
Such items as amenities and expenditure of a capital nature are included here. I cannot let this occasion pass without making a special plea to the Minister to look into the position of the Connemara Golf Club, a club that was built mostly from funds collected locally and which is the major tourist amenity that has been provided locally—everything else was natural. The local people showed great initiative in making this lovely golf course at Ballyconnelly. I have been amazed that during the past two-and-a-half years the Minister has refused to make grants available to help this club remain open, especially in view of the need in the area for that type of facility where practically the whole population are dependent in varying degrees on tourism.
I understand, too, that the Minister has refused to sanction a grant to the Oughterard Golf Club which is a very similar case to the one at Ballyconnelly. Yet, not so many months ago we read that the Taoiseach attended in Westport at the opening of a golf course to which Bord Fáilte gave a grant in the region of £200,000. Nothing like that is required for the Connemara Golf Club at Ballyconnelly. I appeal to the Minister, when these funds are at his disposal, to pay the grants that are morally due to the Connemara Golf Club and also to pay the grants to the Oughterard Golf Club, which was put there because of the encouragement of Bord Fáilte. Since the golf course was first thought of the idea was pushed ahead by representatives of Bord Fáilte. I understand that not one penny of a grant has been paid.
The Connemara and Galway people have tried to provide those golf courses to help their own tourist amenities. In recent years people have been going for a more active type holiday. When local people, through financial sacrifices, are providing those facilities it seems very strange that Bord Fáilte are not participating in those developments. The local people in Connemara have done far more than Bord Fáilte have done.
