asked the Minister for Finance if he is aware that the embankments on the upper stretches of the Gale and Feale rivers, County Kerry, are badly in need of repair owing to erosion; and that these rivers were surveyed by the Office of Public Works some years ago with a view to carrying out arterial drainage; and if he will have repairs carried out as some very valuable land has been washed away by floods.

The responsibility of the Office of Public Works in regard to the Feale and Gale rivers is now limited to the maintenance of the works completed under the Feale catchment drainage scheme. The question of extending the scheme to take in the upper reaches of the Feale and Gale was very fully considered in the past. As the Deputy was informed in the House on the 27th October, 1955, such extension would be so uneconomic that it could not be justified.