Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

There are currently three local authorities on the board of that port company, which has been the position since the mid 1990s. The remit and culture of ports has changed since corporatisation came in. They are now commercial State bodies. Other commercial State bodies such as airport authorities do not have local authority members on their boards. We are currently removing the statutory provision in which each port company would have three local authority members. The Minister has agreed that the smaller boards will have eight members rather than the current 12, but that one of the ministerial appointees will be a local authority member. Therefore, there will be one local authority member out of eight board members rather than three out of 12.

See this speech in context