§ MR. HALPINI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether, knowing that there is £130,000 to the credit of the Agricultural Board which is unallotted for any purpose, he will use his influence with the Board to get the £3,000 that the engineers stated it would take to deepen the passage to Seafield pier and blast the Wild Rock so as to make the passage safe for the fishermen and trading vessels.
MR. BRYCEIf the hon. Member will refer to my Answer to the Question of the hon. Baronet the Member for North Wexford on 3rd December, † he will see that the unallocated balance of £130,000 which stands to the credit of the Department's endowment fund is required to meet the present excess of annual expenditure over normal income on the purposes mentioned in that Answer. I informed the hon. Member on 29th November ‡ that the expense of deepening the channel and removing part of the rock opposite to the entrance would amount to about £3,000, and that this work would be of little use unless a breakwater were constructed at a considerable further cost. the Department of Agriculture are of opinion that so large an expenditure would not be warranted by any fishery development which it would be calculated to promote, and they would, therefore, not feel justified in contributing
† See (4) Debates, clxvi,, 552.‡ See (4) Debates, clxvi., 311–312.146 to such a scheme. They are, however as I have already indicated, prepared to consider, in co-operation with local authorities, whether some loss costly work may not be devised with a view to making the place safer. The Department desire to emphasise their view that the approach to the Seafield pier must always be dangerous in bad weather, such as prevailed on the occasions of the accidents referred to in the hon. Member's previous Question.