Metal barriers erected by Waterways Ireland along a 2km-stretch of the Grand Canal in Dublin have cost the authority €125,000 to date, with ongoing costs in the region of €20,000 per month.
The barriers were put in place on May 9th by the waterways authority to prevent the return of homeless migrants who were using the canal banks as a campsite.
John McDonagh, chief executive of Waterways Ireland, told the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday the authority would extend the barriers if necessary.
He told PAC chairman Brian Stanley: “If we had to go 4km, we would.”
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He said the figure of €125,000 included clean up and sanitary costs. The hire cost of the barriers since being installed in early May had amounted to about €40,000, he said.
The barriers were sharply criticised at the committee, with Fianna Fáil TD James O’Connor describing them as “astonishing” and “a hideous eyesore”.
Fianna Fáil TD Paul McAuliffe said public access should never be ceded when dealing with antisocial behaviour and called on the barriers to be removed.
“Reopening the amenity is not one of a few options - it is the only option,” he said.
He said the authority was faced with “paying to keep it open” through patrols or some other measures, but instead had opted for “paying to keep it closed”.
Eanna Rowe, operations controller with Waterways Ireland, told the committee four options were being examined for the canal banks. He said these were to remove the barriers; to remove the barrier and patrol the area; to leave the barriers in place long-term until the migrant accommodation issue had been resolved or to accelerate plans for a landscaping and biodiversity scheme.
Mr McDonagh said the authority viewed the barriers as “a very unsightly, short-term solution”. He said the most likely outcome would be to bring forward the landscaping and biodiversity scheme.
In his submission to the committee, Comptroller and Auditor General Seamus McCarthy said Waterways Ireland received funding of €35.3 million from its sponsoring departments in 2022. The sponsoring departments were the Republic’s Department of Housing and Northern Ireland’s Department for Infrastructure.
Some €30.7 million, or 87 per cent, was received from the Department of Housing, and the balance of €4.6 million was received from the Department of Infrastructure, he said.
Capital grants of €14.9 million were also received in 2022.
Usage charges for permits, winter moorings, lock tolls, dry dock charges, and rents amounted to €1.35 million.
Commenting on the finances Mr Mc Donagh said the authority incurred total expenditure in 2022 of €61m of which €31 million went on staffing and pension costs.
The authority reported a deficit for 2022 amounting to €3,6 million – up from €11,000 in 2021. Mr McDonagh said the increased deficit was “primarily a result of provisions for legal cases based on changes to estimates of potential future liabilities of the organisation.”
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