§ MR. PATRICK O'BRIEN (Kilkenny)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware of the great inconvenience and loss to the fishing industry at Baltimore for want of a pier at deep water and the corresponding extension of the railway so that fish could be transhipped from the fishing boats to the railway waggons; and that some shippers of fish prefer to send their cargoes to Liverpool by sea to the cost and inconvenience of getting them to the railway under present conditions; whether the original intention was to run the railway line to a deep water pier; and whether the Government will now provide the necessary money to have this work carried out?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThe extension of the railway to deep water was not included in the scheme submitted by the promoting company, or contemplated in the Statutory Report thereon by the Board of Works. The railway terminates in accordance with the original scheme of the promoters. I have no information that some shippers of fish prefer to send their cargoes to Liverpool by sea, direct, as stated; and with regard to the construction of a deep water pier, whilst it 167 is generally admitted that such a work would prove a stimulus to the fishing industry, I can only repeat what I have already stated, that until the Harbour Board and the railway company come to an understanding with the Congested Districts Board, the question of a contribution by means of a grant in aid cannot be again considered.