Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State has said there have been a number of occasions where the volume of cars in the harbour led to a situation where emergency access had been seriously compromised. I do not accept that. Nobody has complained to me about that and I have not heard of it. I believe it is an issue to do with the management of the harbour and the current management regime, which some people think needs to be drastically reformed so that it operates in the interest of the users of the harbour, visitors and local residents. There is an issue in that regard. I checked with An Garda Síochána and with the local superintendent in Raheny and I was told there had been no complaint nor had a recommendation been made in regard to this. If there was a health and safety issue with regard to parking, it would be at Sutton Cross, because of the significant volume of people - up to 20,000 - trying to drive onto the Howth peninsula on a very sunny Sunday.

It is astonishing that we have not had a cost benefit analysis of this proposal and that the Minister of State could not tell me the likely impact of a particular regime of charges, or what effect that would have on the number of visitors visiting the peninsula when the weather is fine. One of the astonishing things about the Howth peninsula is that visitors, including overseas visitors, are often advised to visit this part of Dublin. These visitors will be gravely discouraged by the proposal.

The Minister of State did not address the issue of other fishery harbours. I know Castletownbere harbour particularly well and Killybegs and I do not believe it would ever be possible that such a regime would be introduced in those harbours. That will not happen. The Minister of State will remember that in the past he held a brief regarding this area and he is aware of the quality of the fishing industry in both of those harbours. We need to see the basic cost-benefit figures on this proposal, but I believe that however we look at it, they will not stack up and the proposal should be abandoned. I urge the Minister of State to talk to the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and to talk to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, who aspires to representing the Howth area some day. He does not represent it currently, but perhaps he will stand for it in the next election. It would be disastrous if he permitted the Minister, Deputy Coveney, to introduce this regime.

See this speech in context