Mr. John Mullins:

To be fair, the Commissioner did mention to me that that should be considered and that we should engage with Europe in that regard. In the vein of not understanding what Brexit currently looks like, if it hardens then there is a greater case for greater funding.

On Deputy Troy's question, I did not seek reappointment through the Public Appointments Service. I was asked if I would consider staying on for another three years and I agreed to do so. Given the infrastructural changes and projects in hand the view was that continuity would be useful. There had also been a number of board changes at that juncture.

In terms of timeframe, we expect to be in Ringaskiddy by 2020. The total cost of Marino Point and all infrastructures in Ringaskiddy is €90 million.

We have full funding for that and I made that commentary in my deposition to the committee.

The Custom House is a fabulous building and warehouse which is dilapidated. It is in the heart of the city, the centrepoint of future docklands development. We already have cranes on Albert Quay, we expect more on Horgan's Quay and the Custom House Quay gives a full loop around the inner city where there are plans for significant development of office space etc.

In terms of the port services Directive, we are mindful that we are both a regulator and a provider of services. The committee should be aware we are not the only towage service in Cork Port. The Doyle Shipping Group provides a service and we compete with it. Most of the stevedoring in the port is done by the private sector.

In response to Deputy Barry's comment about privatisation. I will not give a Port of Cork view but a personal view, and I am well-travelled. National ports should be never privatised. They are too important to our infrastructure as an island. It would be inappropriate to privatise. In all of my utterances with the Department over five years there has never been an indication that would ever be considered.

In respect of the relocation to Ringaskiddy and the issue with BAM, we are in the High Court and I need to be very careful. I will say what is in the public domain, which was cited by Deputy Barry. After the offer was made to the Port of Cork in a fitting contract, European standard tender, it was claimed a mistake was made by a very large construction company. The port and I take the simple view that we were given an offer which we accepted and we want to make sure this port is built at the best price on behalf of the State. The figure of €12 million is not appropriate for us. On the legal advice we have been given we are taking it very seriously to the point that we have taken BAM to the High Court. We expect a hearing in July. Our door is open to the contractor to see if we can speed up that process. The impact of a year's delay will not be worth €12 million.

In response to Deputy Fitzmaurice, the agriculture sector is vitally important to our region, as the committee knows and the Vice Chairman is very much aware of it. We have regular interaction with the dairy sector in particular, with Dairygold, Glanbia, Kerry and Danone, which are big manufacturers. We have had to provide refrigerated capabilities on containers for transportation of proteins etc. That has been a big investment in the region. Warehousing is a big issue in the context of inventories for dairy and whey protein product. We are working with all the main providers on that. Livestock primarily goes through established roll-on roll-off routes. Our only current roll-on roll-off route operates during the summer to Roscoff. That will change with the Connemara ship to Santander also providing a year round link to Roscoff.