Ms Isolde Goggin:

I thank the Deputy for his support and suggestion that we be consulted in relation to mergers, which I believe would be very helpful. Reference was made to there being a push towards dominant players in the ports sector. It is true that the trend is that larger ports get bigger because they provide more services, attract better infrastructure and have greater frequency of services. However, there are other developments. In recent weeks there have been developments on the ferry side in terms of the new ferry from Rosslare to St. Nazaire in France and to Gijon in Spain. Irish Ferries will also operate a new route from Dublin to Cherbourg. Ports manage to attract or create business. However, we have not looked specifically at that issue.

The main focus of our study was intra-port competition and, if big ports tend to get bigger, which appears to be the trend in continental Europe, what can be done within those ports to ensure operations are run as efficiently as possible. There tends to be little change in terms of operators, and as such we would like to stir things up a bit. We were asked earlier what three things we would do in the short term. I do not believe things in the port sector ever happen in the short term as what is involved is big heavy infrastructural investments. We would like TPC Management to reduce, by way of negotiation, the leases under which the lo-lo terminals operate, building in efficiency measures and publishing them. Publishing this type of information adds a great deal to the public debate and allows people to see what is going on and whether things are improving from year to year. We would like to see more stevedoring and handling licences granted, which will act as an incentive for people to seek more business. We would also ask that licences in all ports be granted on a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory basis or through tendering.