Vol. 442 No. 4
58 Ms McManus asked the Minister for the Marine the steps, if any, he is taking to combat coastal erosion; if EU funds will be available for this purpose; if any of these funds will be allocated to deal with the problem of erosion at the seafront at Bray, County Wicklow; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Primary responsibility for coastal protection lies with the property owner, whether it be a private individual or a local authority. The Department of the Marine's role is to work in conjunction with local authorities on the management of the coastal zone rather than individual sites.
Wicklow County Council in their submission in respect of the Department of the Marine's coast protection programme identified a number of local coastal protection needs. However, a scheme at Bray was listed as their No. 1 priority. This will certainly influence the final decision as to which projects are to be included in the programme.
Under the national plan it is envisaged that £5.5 million will be spent over the 1994 to 1999 period on coast protection projects with the support of Structural Fund aid. In order to maximise the return from this spending it is intended to identify priority projects for inclusion in the programme. As I am sure the Deputy can imagine, the cost of the proposals submitted to the Department of the Marine far exceeds the moneys available for this purpose under the national plan. The proposals submitted by Wicklow County Council alone came to £11.5 million. Finalisation of a list of priority projects and the nature of the works to be undertaken is subject to further detailed discussion with the coastal local authorities. In this regard discussions have recently been held with Wicklow County Council and Bray Urban District Council. In addition, the agreement of an operational programme must be reached with the Commission of the European Communities, which will subvent the programme's implementation.
Pending completion of these exercises it is not possible to identify which projects will be included in the finalised programme. That being said, I am familiar with the particular problem at Bray and am giving full consideration to its inclusion in the programme.
