Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

-----but at this stage I am very happy to support the approach he made on the local harbour commissioners. On a very serious level, this commission has worked very well for many years. It has operated efficiently and effectively and has run at a profit; we have had the oil imports into the terminal at Whiddy Island which has been a major consideration.

The question is whether it is to be absorbed into the Port of Cork. The Port of Cork is a very fine company running the Port of Cork but Bantry is 60 miles from Cork and we really do not have a huge notion at the far end of west Cork of being merely an outpost of the Port of Cork. The Minister has gone some bit of the way in the amendments he introduced in the Seanad and he has spoken about consultation and so on but at the end of the day that is not sufficient.

It is literally five minutes to midnight as it is metaphorically with regard to the Bill. I strongly suggest that if Bantry Bay Harbour Commission was to be accepted as agreeing to it then that is fine with me. However, if the approach is merely to have a public consultation prior to its being abolished then that is not acceptable in west Cork. The answer is in the amendment which requires that any approach on the ending of the Bantry Bay Harbour Commission should be with its approval. If the Bantry Bay Harbour Commission agrees then that is fine with me but if it does not then it should be allowed to continue on an independent basis. That is my plea by way of support for the excellent case that I will not even try to match made by Deputy Sheehan. I strongly support the approach he has made. Coming from west Cork like Deputy Sheehan, I believe the Minister should take into account the strong views of the local representatives in that regard and go along with the approach we propose.

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