Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 9 December 2014
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications
Dublin Port Company: Chairperson Designate
12:30 pm
Ms Lucy McCaffrey:
I will start with the funding question. The Harbours Act allows Dublin Port Company to borrow up to 50% of its fixed asset base, which suggests we could borrow €150 million. We are debt free going into this planning permission. It is a tightly run company - it is profitable but it is very tightly run. One of our values is frugality and, although we are profitable, we are very frugal and that does not allow us to loosen the reins. We are now at an advanced stage in our talks with the European Investment Bank and the likelihood is that it will be willing to lend us long-term debt of €100 million. We will certainly be easily able to fund and manage that debt from the company's resources. Is that satisfactory?