Mr. John Mullins:

I will deal with Deputy Harrington's questions first. I join him in congratulating my friend, Dermot O'Mahony, on a fantastic tenure as chairman of the port.

On the cruise liner side, we are probably talking about minor incremental investment in Cobh. Bantry will quite clearly come up in the consultation process but we should probably acknowledge the fact that, at the world cruise liner conference last year, Cobh won the awards for the best shore side welcome and best tour guides. It is an award winning location and that is why growth happened. Irish hospitality is experienced from the get go at Cobh terminal and, hopefully, that will continue. The Port of Cork will do its utmost to give that Irish welcome directly to any liner that comes in.

I would rather not go into the whys and wherefores of the Dublin docklands development. If one wants a lesson on how not to approach the Cork docklands, that is probably one. My perspective on this is that there are few spaces within Cork city for development in the future. The port area is a remnant of the 1980s industrial base in the Cork region. We are a different region today and, regrettably, all our industry is in a ribbon around the city. We do not have enough urban planning optimisation or investment in the centre of the city going right out to Pairc Úi Chaoimh and there is an opportunity to begin with on the north side of the docks. The reversal of Kent Station on to Horgan's Quay and the potential for development of the north docks area as the start of the overall docklands development is an opportunity. Based on my experience on the chamber of commerce, a reduction in space for commercial and industrial activity has begun to arise. That has been commented on by the IDA and so on generally but that is no different in the Cork region and the docklands area to address employment opportunities.