Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I am in favour of an integrated approach to the whole country. The Minister stated the purpose of the Bill is for integrated approaches and his hope is this is what the Bill will achieve. I absolutely agree with him, and this is why we welcomed the broad thrust of the Bill. For Dún Laoghaire, at least, we need that kind of integration. What has been missing in Dún Laoghaire is the integration between the activities and operations of the port company and the town and the wider hinterland and arguably the region. This is a step in the right direction but, it is the big but and is the reason we are saying that if we are going in this direction, the logical follow-on is to dissolve the harbour company and in the case of Dún Laoghaire go for the second option.

The harbour company has been in competition effectively with the town and is propelled by a competitive impulse, which is not helpful in achieving the integration that one wants. It is also being propelled by a competitive impulse to compete with Dublin Port, which is not helpful either. The two ports are now competing. If the Dún Laoghaire harbour company's proposal for this cruise berth succeeds, which I hope it does not, it will be competing with another public port for the same business. I have spoken to prominent economists, I will not mention their names but they are people we all know and are not left-wing economists-----