Mr. Aidan O'Driscoll:

I thank the Deputy for his questions. With my colleagues, Dr. Beamish and Mr. Kevin Moriarty, who is up there among the gods, we have been working hard on the harbours issue since we took over responsibility. It is no secret that there was a job of work to be done. We have given some reaction to the committee's draft report. I hope that it will be finalised and that we will see it.

We have made a great deal of progress on many fronts. The issue of the accounts was raised previously. The 2012 accounts have been signed off on by the Comptroller and Auditor General and have gone to the Government. The 2013-14 accounts are ready and have gone to the Comptroller and Auditor General. That is good and we have an understood format, etc. As requested, we have conducted an evaluation of the ports. The value assigned the harbours is an astronomical €492 million. That is striking.

The Deputy raised the issue of properties at the harbours. This is a tangled story in some harbours, albeit less so in others. There are 213 properties in the harbours. Of those, 94 are leased with full agreements and so on. Of the 61 leased without agreements, a significant number are leased to public bodies. Only eight properties across the harbours are vacant and considered ready for tender. Approximately 15 are vacant but not considered suitable for tender, either because of a legal problem or an operational or planning issue. We have the number of vacant properties down to a low level. There are 46 properties in respect of which people are in arrears with us. Some have agreements and some do not. We are trying to sort out all of this. We are making good progress.

The Deputy has suggested the involvement of Enterprise Ireland and BIM in a process with us on the further development of the commercial potential of the harbours. That is an excellent idea. Like the Deputy, I know Ms Sinnamon well. How closely our Department works with Enterprise Ireland is not often appreciated. Everybody thinks of us as just working with Teagasc and Bord Bia, as they report to us and are our semi-State bodies, as it were, but there is a large chunk of Enterprise Ireland to which we provide a great deal of funding. For example, our marketing and processing grants, which are listed in our appropriation account, go through Enterprise Ireland. We work closely with it. It is on our high-level committee, chaired by the Minister, that is in charge of the implementation of Food Harvest 2020.

We work very closely with Enterprise Ireland and I am delighted about the idea of involving it in this process. The valuation figures brings the point home to us. I mentioned the figure of €491 million and a huge proportion of that figure - I would have to add up the individual amounts - relates to the replacement cost of the harbour - in other words, not the properties. When one thinks of the harbours, one is inclined to think of the properties around them. Of the €492 million figure, apparently, the properties are worth about €30 million. Therefore, the harbours are the main real asset. That makes common sense if one thinks about it. The harbours have all kinds of other functions. My colleague sent me a photograph of a cruise liner coming into Killybegs - a fantastic sight. It is a huge resource now not only as a fisheries harbour but as a key to tourism development in Donegal. It is a fantastic resource. Other harbours are being used for the export of stone, one of which is Dingle - An Daingean. Therefore, a variety of different things are happening at harbours. I know Deputy Deasy will be very familiar with Dunmore East and the work we are doing there in regard to the dredging to make it more useable. My view on it is that a huge amount of progress has been made, and huge credit is due to my colleagues who have been working on this, but we can absolutely make further progress on this and we are happy to involve Enterprise Ireland, as the Deputy suggests.