Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter after Stena Line announced a consolidation of its services from Holyhead to Dublin Port. I am more than aware that the news will come as a major disappointment to everyone in Dún Laoghaire Harbour and the wider Dún Laoghaire community. I recognise the Deputy's comments and share her disappointment. I worked in Stena Line in Dún Laoghaire for two summers and have an understanding of how important the service is not only to Dún Laoghaire Harbour but also to the broader community, as the Deputy outlined.

Today the company stated it would be concentrating on expanding its existing ferry service at Dublin Port and confirmed that it was withdrawing its HSS Stena Explorerservice from Dún Laoghaire Harbour. Stena Line has operated the HSS Stena Explorerto Dún Laoghaire since 1996 with a mix of passengers, car and coach traffic. The Dún Laoghaire service was successful for several years following its introduction and carried over 1.7 million passengers annually during its peak in 1998. However, post the withdrawal of duty free shopping, passenger and car volumes declined dramatically and by 2014 fewer than 150,000 ferry passengers travelled through Dún Laoghaire Harbour. This represents a decline of over 90% by volume and, combined with increasing fuel and operating costs, has made the route unsustainable. The company reduced the services of the HSS Stena Explorerfrom Dún Laoghaire on 13 September 2011, operating a seasonal-only service from Dún Laoghaire to Holyhead from April to September. The company has stated Ireland remains a strategically important region and that it has invested over £250 million in its Irish Sea business in the past five years. However, Car and passenger volumes in Dublin Port overtook those in Dún Laoghaire as far back as 2008. Volumes through Dublin Port have since continued to grow, thus providing Stena Line with a stark choice in respect of its future route network in the region.

As a company set up under the Harbours Act 1996, Dén Laoghaire Harbour Company has a statutory mandate to take all proper measures for the management, control, operation and development of Dún Laoghaire Harbour and is required to conduct its business in a cost-effective and efficient manner. In recent years the company has been restructuring its business to keep it on a sustainable financial footing and enable the harbour to develop and operate on a commercial basis in the future.

The policy on Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company was published in the Government's national ports policy 2013. The position is that designated ports of regional significance, including Dún Laoghaire Harbour, will transfer to more appropriate local authority-led governance structures. In May 2014 the Government approved the general scheme of the harbours (amendment) Bill 2014. In October 2014 the Oireachtas joint committee published its consideration of the heads of the Bill which is with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel for legal drafting. I expect to seek Government approval for publication of the Bill within this quarter and to move it into the Oireachtas before the summer. The Bill will provide the necessary framework to allow for the transfer of control of Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company to local authority-led structures. The Deputy asked me a specific question about timing. I anticipate and intend to ensure the Bill will be in the Oireachtas before the summer and that I will have Government approval of its full drafting in the coming weeks. My Department has been involved in ongoing meetings with all relevant ports, local authorities and others stakeholders. I have received correspondence from Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company on the matter today. I acknowledge that the Deputy has contacted me separately about it. I intend to meet the board in the coming weeks to engage on the matters the Deputy has raised.

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