PERMIT FEE INCREASES will “break up” established houseboat communities that live along Ireland’s canals, the Irish Residential Boat Owners Association told an Oireachtas committee today.
Houseboat dwellers in Dublin’s docklands are facing steep annual fee increases, and over the weekend accused Waterways Ireland of attempting to gentrify the canal and “displace” those who’ve made it their home.
Management and development body Waterways Ireland (WI) is looking to implement a hike from €578 to €4,000 annually, and rising to €7,500 over a six-year period.
Those that live on houseboats in Sallins, Kildare will see fees for a serviced site go from €278 to over €2,000 per year.
A serviced mooring site gives access to a water tap and electricity point for each houseboat. Electricity is not included in the permit fee. Residents use a top up card to pay for their electricity usage.
Refuse is collected at the Grand Canal and a pump out station for waste is located on the opposite side of the marina. However the services provided vary in different locations.
The houseboat residents said such fees could lead to homelessness for traditional canal boat dwellers who cannot afford the fee increases.
Giving an example, chair of of the residents group Jerry Gleeson said a retired man who lives on a houseboat in Sallins for over 30 years, who was working for 15 years, and is now retired, will struggle to pay.
“He is on a fixed income and in November he will be asked for €2,000,” said Gleeson, adding:
When that man says he doesn’t have it, what happens?
Gleeson said there are lots of retired people living in houseboats in Sallins, Hazelhatch and Grand Canal.
He said there is a mix of people living on barges and houseboats along Ireland’s canals, stating that there are two young babies living in Grand Canal marina that are just a couple of months old.
People are “under pressure in this cost-of-living crisis and to put another bill of €2,000 on them, any household in the state would have difficulty paying it”, said Gleeson.
If a decent baselines for fees can be reached between Waterways Ireland and the residents, whereby there are assurances that no one will be evicted, then perhaps a middle ground can be found, said Gleeson.
He called for supports to be put in place for those residents that find it difficult to pay.
A number of TDs criticised the planned tiered increase in fees.
Social Democrats Cian O’Callaghan said the fee increase is “going to cause serious problems from residents on fixed incomes and those that are retired”.
He said a rise from €278 to over €2,000 for a serviced site in Sallins, which includes electricity and water connections, will cause huge problems.
The Social Democrats TD highlighted the case of an older couple who would need a serviced site for their houseboat, with electricity and water connections, and who cannot pay.
He asked Eanna Rowe, Operations Operator of Waterways Ireland, what would happen in that case if the older couple could not pay the serviced site fee.
Rowe responded by stating alternative sites would be offered for those that cannot pay for a serviced site.
He said they would be offered an unserviced site, where there is no water or electricity connections that would cost a lower fee.
“If you are an older couple who need those services, and you are being told to move to an unserviced berth that doesn’t work,” said O’Callaghan, who said Waterways Ireland proposal is eviction.
“We will not be evicting anybody,” Rowe said.
O’Callaghan said Rowe must accept that telling people that they must move if they cannot pay the fees “is not a viable soliton”.
Sinn Féin’s Pat Buckley told the committee: “These are not boats, these are families.”
“It is all about the bang for the buck here,” he said, stating that there is serious money to made for Waterways Ireland.
“These charges will set a precedent on how we are going to go forward,” he added.
Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó’Broin said the rate of increase is “very dramatic” stating that there is no clarity on the improvement of services residents will see for the higher fees.
He told Rowe that he believes the organisation will have to “rethink” it.
Given it is a “mixed income group of people”, Ó’Broin said, adding that he shares the concerns over the total amount being asked for and the rate of the increase.
It is “far too high and need careful consideration”, said the Sinn Féin deputy.
He highlighted there there is a need for a dispute resolution mechanism as he can foresee issues if the fee increase goes ahead.
Rowe responded by saying “we are here to listen”, adding that there is a lot to take on board.
Waterways Ireland has received a submission from residents in Grand Canal in phase two of the public consultation, “and we will seriously consider it”, he said.
Fine Gael’s Emer Higgins said she has received a lot of representations on the matter, and noted that it was “really striking” how packed the public gallery in the committee room was today with houseboat residents, stating:
I don’t think Ryan Tubridy got this.
“My real concern and what I am hearing very loud and clear is around fees,” she told the committee.
The proposed fee structure increases “quite dramatically year-on-year”. She said there should be efforts made to make Ireland’s canal “more liveable” and questioned how increasing fees was going to achieve that.
“We are talking about London prices here,” she said, adding the residents of Ireland’s canals are not getting the same level of services or amenities that houseboat dwellers in London get.
Higgins said a 650% increase in the price, in some cases, is not acceptable. She said it if were the case that someone’s rent was increasing by that much, it would not be tolerated.
Independent Senator Victor Boylan said the hike in the fees “is an outrage”, adding that many living on the canals “won’t have a lot of income”, stating that it will create a crisis in their living communities.
Rowe said there is a willingness by Waterways Ireland to move on the fees.
“We want to get them right, we want to make sure they are implementable,” he added.
A second public consultation regarding the proposed bye-law changes commenced on 15 January and will close on 26 February.
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