Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

The Minister of State did not point out that those proposals include the removal from the harbour authorities of a number of public representatives from councils around the country. I appreciate that he acknowledged the letter he received from the Association of County and City Councils, but he had to do it. In their letter, they state they do not want public representatives to be removed from the harbour authorities. They believe they have a very important role to play in representing the local authorities near the port authorities. It is very important to maintain that link, so will the Minister of State reverse the decision to exclude a certain number of local authority members, if not all of them, from the Bill?

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