Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleague, Deputy Fergus O’Dowd, for allowing me to share his time. I welcome the Bill’s provisions and key principles. As an island nation, ports are essential infrastructure that should stay in public ownership. Ports should be competitive and profitable. As a country we import and export many goods. We export food and pharmaceutical products in bulk. There is every reason for port companies to be viable and to stay in public ownership.

The ports we are talking about, namely, Drogheda, Dún Laoghaire, Wicklow and New Ross, are all located on the eastern seaboard. This week we opened a very significant piece of new road infrastructure on the M11, called euroroute, eventually to link Larne with Rosslare including all the ports along the way that form part of the necklace of ports. The ports can all be contributors to the Irish economy. Deputy Boyd Barrett referred in particular to cruise liners and tourism. Wicklow Port Company is a small semi-State entity that has been a profitable company, notwithstanding what Deputy Boyd Barrett said about the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company. The company in Wicklow Port has continued to be prudent. It has invested money in the provision of key infrastructure such as a pier and has managed to keep some reserves. I recall when the then Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Leo Varadkar, visited, the harbour master was very concerned about his humble port headquarters. I assured him that the Minister would rather come to a port company with humble headquarters and a healthy bank balance than one where the opposite was the case.

It is wise to have the two options. We should not rule either one in or out. If a port company is to be transferred as it is to a local authority the company should then be answerable to the executive and the members of the council and the audited accounts should be available and published. Decisions taken by the company should be subject to the council in the same way that agencies of the State come before relevant committees of the Dáil. Port companies should present their annual report either to the full council chamber or to a select sub-committee.

If the desired option is to dissolve the port company and transfer it to the local authority a proper committee should be set up. The rules pertaining to revenues and profits of the port should be decided by the members. Section 9 provides for ministerial consent to the divesting of equity to the private sector. That should be a function of the members. There should be a double-lock provision in that a majority of members of the council would have to recommend the course of action first and then the decision would have to go to the Minister for approval.

We should be reassured that it cannot be privatised willy-nilly. Private equity may be necessary. It would not be the preferred option if, as I said, the port companies can trade profitably. Whether the new configuration means that they will be maintained as a company or absorbed into the council, they should continue to be able to avail of grant aid from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport or the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government for investment in capital infrastructure that may be beyond their ability to provide, given their trading operations. Allowing it would make them profitable. Whether by way of a deferred loan or grant aid, they should be entitled to source such money without being in breach of state aid rules.

It is welcome that the provision is being made. We have a local government reform programme in place and are trying to restructure the way administration takes place and how we govern. There has been significant local government reform, much of which has returned responsibility, control, management and accountability to local authorities to let them run their affairs. The only way they can do this is with power and money and revenue is key.

All of the significant ports are very important to their local economies. There is very vibrant activity in Wicklow Port. It is very important that their future be secured and that they become integral to the local authorities. I welcome the provisions included in the Bill and I am very pleased that it has come to this point. It was a moot point for the previous Government. Where harbour commissioners were transferred back to the local authorities, as happened, for example, in Arklow, there have been ongoing changes. Wicklow Port Company is still small and does not merit being a semi-State body, as we understand it. However, there is no reason it cannot be part of a local authority and have a commercial and self-financing focus.

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