§ MR. O'KELLY (Roscommon, N.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether the Report of the Royal Commissioners, presented to Parliament on 8th February 1882, recommended that the Commissioners of Public Works of Ireland should carry on their operations on the Shannon with a view primarily to the drainage of the country; whether the Canal, under the control of the Commissioners, leading from the Harbour of Lecarrow, County Rosecommon, to Lough Kee is a portion of the Shannon Drainage and Navigation Works; whether it has been allowed to be choked up with weeds and silted mud to the detriment of riparian owners and tenants; and, whether he will call the attention of the Commissioner of Public Works to the subject?
THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. JACKSON)(who replied) said (Leeds, N.)Lord Monck's Commission recommended that the Shannon should remain under the care of the Commissioners of Public Works, who, while maintaining the navigation should regulate the depth of water, so far as might be in their power, with a view primarily to the drainage of the country. This recommendation is, and has been, most scrupulously attended to. The Lecarrow Canal was constructed by the Shannon Commissioners as a temporary measure and solely for facilitating the execution of the works, but was treated for a few years as part of the navigation. There being no traffic, it was given up 15 years ago, and is now in great part choked with weeds and silted. I have communicated with the Commissioners of Public Works and learn that, the water surface being on a level with Lough Kee, the riparian owners and tenants could not be benefited unless Lough Kee were lowered, and this could not be done, looking to the necessity of insuring the preservation of the legal navigation depth, without incurring enormous expenditure.