Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First, I genuinely tried to deal with the substance of the Deputy's amendment earlier. Second, I have listened carefully to the Deputy on the need for a category such as the one described in terms of ports of regional significance. We have followed up on our national ports policy by making the arrangement available through law. If ports of regional significance are dissolved into the local authority structure, I will look forward to the Deputy playing his part in detailing how their development needs will be funded by the local authorities, bearing in mind that the latter would need to fund the ports themselves.