Mr. Lorcan O'Connor:

It comes back to potential business. Dublin Port is not guaranteed any freight business. The CEO of the port, Eamonn O'Reilly, is saying that it will not take the cruise business, but it is hoping to get certain freight business and is taking certain actions to prepare for that. I refer to a statement by Mr. O'Reilly on 11 April following discussion of the pressure on land at Dublin Port. He stated: "Our container terminals are operating at half of the target land utilisation we set for them in our Franchise Policy in 2014." He continued: "One of the impacts of Brexit is that we have to achieve these targets sooner. The Dublin Port Dwell Time Initiative provides essential financial incentives to move cargo through the port more quickly." Basically, people were able to store rusty containers at the port for a year without being charged. Five years ago, the port company set out a policy document stating that it needed to utilise its land better and would begin charging for container storage. It is only starting to do so now. This was identified as a problem five years ago in the context of a lack of space but the port still has not done anything about it and is only now starting to consider it. The temporary solution to a lack of space in the port, particularly for the turnarounds, is a marquee measuring several hundred thousand square feet which operates somewhat like an airport check-in area - people arrive, go through a security scanner, check in their baggage and get bused to the ship. In the case of turnarounds, that is paid for by the cruise companies. To address a possible lack of usable land, people should be charged for the storage of empty rusty containers, which would free up a significant amount of land. That space could be used to house a marquee, which would keep the turnarounds going.