The purpose of this Bill is to remove a special restriction on the building of bridges over the River Shannon. Where a bridge over navigable water has to be reconstructed, the general procedure is that a public inquiry is held into the merits of the particular solution proposed. Following the inquiry, the Minister for Local Government makes a bridge order, but the consent of the Minister for Industry and Commerce is required; he is the Minister concerned with navigation interests. In the case of the River Shannon the Commissioners of Public Works must be consulted also, in their capacity as Shannon Navigation Commissioners. Navigation interests in the case of the Shannon are therefore amply protected by these requirements.
It sometimes happens that, where there is an existing opening span, the best engineering solution is a new fixed span which will give adequate clearance for navigation. This is at present prevented, in the case of the Shannon, by the Local Government Act, 1955, which was amended to that effect at the Committee Stage in the Dáil. In the case of Athlone bridge the local inquiry showed that the proper solution on engineering and economic grounds is a fixed bridge. The proviso in the Act of 1955, however, obliged the Minister for Local Government to make a bridge order providing for a new opening span. This would be more costly and difficult to provide. The Westmeath county council and other local bodies have protested against the position thus created and have urged the enactment of the legislation now before the Seanad. County councils concerned with other Shannon bridges where there is a prima facie case for a new fixed span also favour the proposed legislation.
The Bill introduces no new principle in the matter of navigation rights. It was at one time assumed that the bridge order procedure under Part IV of the Local Government Act, 1946, enabled a bridge to be constructed even if it involved a curtailment of navigation rights. The original intention of subsection (1) of section 40 of the Local Government Act, 1955, was to put this beyond doubt. The words excluding the River Shannon were inserted at the Committee Stage in the Dáil. The restriction is an unreal one, because navigation is already limited on the Shannon by fixed bridges at its entrance and by narrow locks with high cills. Some of the so-called "opening" bridges, including Athlone, have not been able to function as such for many years, but they have afforded sufficient clearance to the navigation using the river including pleasure launches.
In commending the Bill to the Seanad, I can assure them that every consideration will be given to rights of navigation and that there will be no question of a fixed span being provided at a site where the clearance is not adequate for navigation purposes.
As I mentioned, a bridge order had already been made in the case of Athlone bridge, providing for a new opening span, although a local inquiry had shown that a fixed span would give the same clearance to navigation as the existing bridge had afforded since 1942, when the opening span ceased to function. Special provision is therefore made for this case in section 2 of the Bill, which proposes to amend the Athlone Bridge Order by providing for a fixed span instead of an opening span.
In conclusion, I should like to stress the urgency of the Bill. Severe weight restrictions have been imposed in the case of some of the Shannon bridges and reconstruction work is urgently necessary. The enactment of this Bill will enable work to proceed at once on the design and construction of a relatively simple new span at Athlone, and will enable the necessary steps to be taken for the provision of new permanent spans (fixed or open, as the evidence warrants) at the other sites requiring urgent attention.
