Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

I move amendment No. 5:

In page 7, line 7, after "harbour" to insert the following:

"provided that those activities are clearly beneficial to the harbour in question and to the Irish State".

A key aspect of this Bill is to encourage a more dynamic approach to commercial activity in all of the national ports which includes giving ports greater freedom in respect of their investment or commercial activities outside the harbour limits and State ports in certain instances. The amendment to the 1996 Act states, "the company may invest in or engage in commercial activities outside the limits of the harbour". My amendment seeks to amend that briefly to prevent some commercial activities, perhaps by way of investment, outside this country becoming the dominant feature of the port company's activity.

In amendment No. 6, I seek to amend the guidelines that the Minister is bringing forward to the effect that in making decisions about the acquisition or disposal of land the company must be "fully cognisant of the priority of maintaining port lands in the public interest for public transport uses and for the public good". That is important given the history of, and recent allegations about, some port activities and the fact that port lands have not been used for beneficial purposes.

It is important to improve the ability of ports to behave dynamically and the Minister made several comments about that on Second Stage. Having considered his views as expressed on Committee Stage, I ask him to bear in mind the issues I have raised in both of these amendments but I will withdraw amendment No. 5.

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