I thank the committee for the invitation to address it on these issues. Rather then going through our written submission in detail, I propose to highlight certain aspects of it, after which I will be delighted to answer any questions arising. The Heritage Boat Association was established in 2001 and is a specialist niche group representing owners of heritage boats, the majority of which have their origins as working boats on the Grand and Royal canals. Although our members use the waterways throughout the country, these particular navigations are near and dear to our heart and we use them regularly as part of our touring and cruising activities.
The association was launched by the then Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Síle de Valera, when four barges made the journey from Shannon to Dublin. It was a journey fraught with many challenges, to which Mr. Dolan alluded. We are proud to acknowledge the progress that has been made in improving the canals in the intervening period. We had the pleasure of bringing nine barges last year on the Royal Canal and back out on the Grand Canal, on what is well known as the green and silver route. We acknowledge the assistance we had from Waterways Ireland staff in undertaking what was, despite our boats being made for those navigations, a demanding journey. We appreciate their support. Our objectives include promoting the use, preservation and restoration of heritage boats and, as I said, we have a particular interest in the canals. In the course of our activities we seek to engage to the maximum degree possible with communities through joint activities, cultural and otherwise, and with State organisations such as Waterways Ireland.
We have some concerns about aspects of the by-laws, which I will outline by reference to the headings Ms Livingstone mentioned. We had what we consider a constructive exchange with Waterways Ireland some years ago, where, if we are correct in our assessment, we were listened to carefully and attentively. We look forward with great hope and optimism to having impacted on many of the proposals that will emerge in the final documentation. I will deal with the headings in sequence.
The five day rule causes us great difficulty. As a general mooring period for boats in transit, five days is not practical on a canal. With the exception of occasions when a boater is undertaking a trip to Northern Ireland through the Shannon-Erne system, as we will do later this year as a group, boats that are cruising in or around their usual location will be within a few hours or at most one or two days of their mooring. If a boater has a difficulty and must leave his or her boat, he or she can, under the five day rule, leave it somewhere on the River Shannon and may also have an opportunity to return to his or her harbour. When one is somewhere west of lock 12 or east of Mullingar on the Grand Canal one does not have this luxury. The reason is the pace of travel on the canal and the difficulty with locking and so on, which means that, in a linear sense, one can be some distance away from one's mooring. Furthermore, the journey time over which one would make a trip such as the one we made last year on the Green and Silver route imposes a commitment of several months travelling at weekends on those who have a day job. At some stage on such a journey, one will come unstuck and need to leave the boat somewhere for a longer period than expected. For these reasons, we strongly urge that the five day period be reviewed and a new arrangement made that is specific to the canals.
On the cruising permit, we would prefer if this were a lock passage permit rather than a cruising permit. We can expand on this point if members wish.
We have asked Waterways Ireland to consider the merits of a winter permit for mooring. Arrangements are in place on the River Shannon to enable boats to moor in public harbours during the winter months when traffic is low by payment of a fee to Waterways Ireland. We ask that consideration be given to introducing a similar special arrangement for the canal.
I will make a small point of detail on the issue of extended mooring. When applications for extended mooring permits are approved, they should include a facility allowing the permit to be used in more than one of the 50 locations in any given year. In other words, the permit should be transferable, perhaps by arrangement.
On mooring charges, the upper end of the charges places a heavy burden on boat owners. It is unclear how the charges will be applied. We made the point to Waterways Ireland that it is difficult for us to comment in detail on the issue of mooring charges until such time as we see how the schedule is to apply. While we have some idea of the criteria to be used, we would welcome information on how they will be applied. Our position may well have been taken on board as an issue to be addressed in the next phase.
Only those of similar age to Mr. Treacy and me will recall our boats being used as work boats on the canals. Our boats are typically 61 ft. by 13 ft. To be subject to a regime under which length is a criterion for calculating the charge for a given boat would cause us a difficulty because the heritage boats, which belong to the canal, if one likes, would be penalised most. We have asked that consideration be given to implementing a derogation for heritage boats if a length criterion is to be applied.
On house boats, the charges need to be assessed against market value and more detail needs to be made available on how they would be applied in particular locations.
We have a difficulty with the Liffey transit charges. Crossing the River Liffey is quite a task. While we are reluctant to use the expression that we have "difficulties in principle", we have some difficulties in principle with paying a fee to go under Newcomen Bridge because the bridge blocks navigation and was built outside the parameters of the criteria laid down in the guide books for the height of clearance under a bridge. Whereas a charge is imposed by one State body on another for using the bridge, the issue should be addressed in a way that avoids the imposition of a levy on motors.
On the dry dock, owing to the nature of the boats, a number of a major refurbishments must be undertaken during their life and a substantial period is required to carry out any such refurbishment in a number of cases. For this reason, the cost of the new schedule would be simply prohibitive. Without getting into much technical detail, a number of us have done major works to re-plate the bilges of our boats because they were worn from many years working the canals. Having done this work a number of years ago, I did a retrospective calculation and found that if I were to do these works with my boat today under the proposed charging regime, it would cost about €11,000 for docking fees, which is more than the cost of the steel required for the work. We believe Waterways Ireland understood this point and we hope it will be reflected in the final proposals.
The fixed payment notice of €150 is higher than the fine imposed on drivers who are unfortunate enough to be caught speeding on a dual carriageway. While the figure is substantial, of greater concern is that the only method of challenging a fixed payment notice appears to be to go before the courts and risk a €5,000 fine. There is a strong case for introducing an intermediate appeals process if the fixed payment notice is to be applied.
The Heritage Boat Association acknowledges that it has a pragmatic relationship with Waterways Ireland on various issues. Moving a large fleet of boats or individual vessels on the canals and other waterways will always give rise to issues and we have found that Waterways Ireland has worked positively with us to resolve any that have arisen. However, we do not see the spirit of this relationship reflected in the proposed by-laws. In recognising that legislation is a hard fact, we believe that the treatment of events and discretion to recognise special circumstances as they arise should be empowered in the final outcome. This would mean that if, at some future point, the Heritage Boat Association must deal with different personalities in Waterways Ireland from the accommodating individuals with whom we currently work, we will have something to wave at them. We would welcome a formal acknowledgement of this. We recognise, however, the context outlined by Ms Livingstone. We will be pleased to discuss any issues members wish to raise.