Mr. Eamon Bradshaw:

I will withdraw that comment. I did not intend any disrespect to Deputy O'Donovan.

During my presentation I did not mention Shannon Foynes at any stage. I admire Shannon Foynes for what it does, have good friends there and support them. We hope Shannon Foynes develops further and this has generally been our way within the port sector up to recent times.

Shannon Foynes is in Munster, not Connacht. It is not on the west coast, but on the south-west coast. It is a long way from Shannon Foynes to Donegal, to north Mayo or to Sligo.

It is not 40 miles from Galway to Shannon Foynes Port Company. It is quite a way down the road so to say that is incorrect.

There are important issues to be addressed. We are a very positive port in terms of what we are trying to achieve. The rail link into Shannon Foynes is not open. The rail link into Galway Port is open. There is a road network into Galway; there is not a road network into Shannon Foynes. I am not being negative about Shannon Foynes. I do not have anything against Shannon Foynes; I support it in everything it tries to do. However, in terms of what we have tried to achieve, mention was made of car parking and rental income but if members look deeper into our accounts they will see that much of that rental income comes from our customers who are based in our enterprise park. The statement that the vast majority of the 500 people who work in the enterprise park work in companies that bring their products in and out through the port and are related to the port is incorrect.

Members will see from the figures in recent years that we have moved our import and export turnover back to in excess of what would be classified as non-core income. The Port of Galway has existed since medieval times. If Deputy O'Donovan could confirm to me that he could run any business that would open for four hours per day, I would like to hear it. It cannot happen. We are restricted to a tonnage of 7,000 tonnes. Fewer ships of that size are being built. Our customers are asking us to provide bigger ships to allow them bring their products into Galway. Many of our customers could not move their business to any other port because the actual cost of transferring it to other ports would mean the business would not be viable, the exports would not take place and employment would suffer as a result.

There are many reasons we need a port extension in Galway. We are working with the national ports policy in that we have 32 acres of inner city land which, in our view, should be developed for what is requested in the ports policy statement, that is, development of the tourist trade. In the past 12 months, we have produced many reports in terms of cost-benefit analysis and so forth - funding strategy documents - that clearly indicate it is a viable proposition. That has been accepted in terms of the cost-benefit analysis incorporating the west of Ireland. The west is a very large area to cover. It is far removed from Shannon Foynes and it should, and will in due course, have a port of which it can be truly proud.