Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank everyone for their presentations and I wish to comment on some of the issues raised. One of the major fears in regard to the Bill relates to the transfer of powers to the local authorities and the effect this will have on the boards in terms of decision making and who makes the decisions. Can we have further elaboration on those fears?

I understand every port cannot be a tier one port, but while each port has ambitions, they all have limitations. If Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council could extend its limits, this would open more options, such as cruise businesses or similar. Will funding be available for development and where will it come from? Perhaps the different ports could submit some sort of business plan that would indicate to us how they would like to see their ports expand. Otherwise it is difficult to envisage any development. I understand they are at a disadvantage because the TEN-T funding applies to the larger ports and lower tier ports are excluded from that funding. Will the delegates comment on that? I would appreciate a response on these issues.

In terms of expansion, Galway seems to be limited in the context of the overall hours in which it can operate. How can that be improved? The delegates mentioned the enterprise park in Galway. Is it planned to expand that further?