I thank Deputy McCarthy for raising this issue. I share his frustration with the progress of this project because it goes back to that storm in 2016. I subsequently visited the rowing club and am well aware of it. I have spoken to the county manager about this and to the Deputy's good colleague Councillor Frank O'Flynn. I hope the Deputy does not mind.

Sentiment score: 0.35

All things Fermoy and all that, as the Deputy knows. I spoke to them to get the background to this because different Departments have said that it not their responsibility. I will convene a meeting between the OPW and the Department of housing - I have spoken to the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, and the Minister, Deputy James Browne - as well as Inland Fisheries Ireland and the Ministers of State, Deputies Dooley and O'Sullivan, in terms of the NPWS and so on. The council will make a contribution. The cost could be higher than €6 million. The documents are ready to go to tender, but it seems each Department says it is someone else's problem. However, this can be resolved. We can find the capital for it. If the documents are ready, the council should maybe go to tender, and I suggested that to the county manager. I know the council wants to have everything guaranteed, but at least we would have an idea of what the cost is. This has to be done because it is a protected structure. It dates from the early 19th century and is a beautiful area in itself. The manager also indicated that the council is going to apply to the Minister for rural and community affairs for grant funding under the rural regeneration and development fund, RRDF. If we can pull people together, it will enable us to get this done. It has to be done, and I am now taking it under my responsibility to make sure that we pull people together to enable us to get it done.

Sentiment score: 0.14

The application was originally made for barrier mitigation funding. The Fermoy project involves the rebuilding of a weir and then the barrier mitigation programme deals with mitigating existing barriers to fish passage, but both are combined in this project. It is about pulling people together to make sure that this can be done, and we need to get it done or costs will escalate, but it is important that it gets done for leisure, sporting, fishing and other activities, as well as for the wildlife, biodiversity and so forth. It is an important project and I will certainly keep a focus on this. I appreciate that the Deputy has now raised this twice in the House.

Sentiment score: 0.27