Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I can hear the Minister of State's voice rising to castigate the Government for a policy that would leave us with no national port between Foynes and Derry. Given the length of the coastline, one must ask how we could leave the area without a national port. As Google Maps, a fantastic facility, shows, Foynes is closer to Cork than to Galway. Therefore, the argument that it is close to Galway does not hold water. One need only consider the distance between Cork and Waterford, Waterford and Rosslare and Rosslare to Dublin to discover we will have a necklace of national ports stretching from the Border between the State and the North of Ireland, north of Dundalk, around the coast as far as Foynes. However, north of Foynes, along the northern bank of the River Shannon and the extremely long coastline of counties Clare, Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal, there will be no national port.

I can imagine the Minister of State fulminating and saying it was a disgrace and should not be allowed to happen. His advisers will say the reason the port in Galway is not in the list is that it does not deal with the required tonnage. That is like telling the people of Inis Meáin that they had no track record in fishing as they did not have a pier and had to fish using currachs. As the Minister of State knows, the port in Galway is tidal and relies on the use of gates which can be accessed only in very limited tidal conditions.

The discrimination against the port in Galway in the Bill is very serious. Its effect will be to stymie the comprehensive development plan developed for the port. If successful, it would make Galway a very important port for the import and export of natural resources. Oil is already brought in, while waste, lime and timber are exported. Many other cargoes could be brought in and out if and when there is a suitable pier that would facilitate the bringing in of significant cargoes in all tidal conditions on ships of a suitable sized. Only ships of a limited size can enter the docks, with the Minister of State is more than familiar.

When I was Minister, I was instrumental in establishing a group that developed a vision plan for the port in Galway. We saw its potential as a commercial port in bringing in and out commercial cargoes, as well as one of the most attractive ports for the cruise liner business. Unlike most other cities, when the new harbour is built in Galway, it will be possible to bring ships within walking distance of the city centre, making it an incredibly attractive place for tourists. The heart of the city is very close to the port. The tourist area is adjacent to the port and will remain so if and when the new pier is built. As part of the creative plan, it was envisaged that the existing port would be used for marine leisure activities, for which it is ideal. Following the successful hosting of the Volvo Ocean Race, there is great potential to host and a demand for such events in Galway city.

We also developed the concept of redeveloping the existing portlands in the inner harbour area which would form the basis of extending and turning the city centre towards the sea, providing recreational, commercial and residential accommodation, along with shops, restaurants and high-quality offices. Rather than extending the city outwards, we aimed to consolidate the city centre, an area which is very eco-friendly and easy to walk around.

In one fell swoop, this Bill seeks to undermine all of this. It will make Galway a port of regional significance. In public service jargon that means it is not considered important, it is not worth investment or European grants and will not be considered part of the TEN-T process. The Bill is about locking the gate but not telling us this in such blunt terms. It is saying it does not believe the west should be developed and all development should take place on the east coast. The Minister of State, in his heart and soul, knows that is what is going on. I know he is not the day-to-day transport Minister but it must be an embarrassment to him to know that this is basically the underlying thrust of this Bill. Essentially, those that remain national ports will get resources and those which do not get nominated will get nothing.

This is perpetuating the future by the past. What holds us back west of the Shannon is underdevelopment in the past. The Galway Port company has shown, however, through objective analysis the port can develop in the future. However, because the tonnage is not there because of the past it will not be taken seriously. If we continue on that path, there never will be balanced regional development on this island. The west coast will always lag behind because historically, well before Independence, it was the poorer part of the island in terms of infrastructure and business.

Surely the Minister of State’s vision is bigger than that. When 15,000 tonnes were being put through the timber mill at Corr na Móna, I always remember being told by the forestry Department that we would never get 30,000 tonnes of timber for it. The big mills were to stay big and the small mills were to stay small. Amazingly, in 2015, that same mill is putting 400,000 tonnes of timber through it. We did not accept we had to be the poor relation. In fairness to P.J. Fahy, he did not take no from the powers that be for an answer. As a result, he has created a significant number of jobs. It is now the largest mill in the country. We were told there was not a tenth of the timber it consumes in a year available because the conventional theory of time was that the mills had to be in other places in the country, not in a place like Connemara.

In fairness, the Minister of State has fought that attitude for most of his life. He has not been willing to lie down and accept the west must always play second fiddle when it comes to roads, ports or airports. I know the attitude of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. It is treating Knock Airport in the same cavalier fashion. I cannot understand why Knock Airport is not given the same status as Shannon and Cork airports. With a Taoiseach and Minister of State with responsibility for tourism coming from Mayo, one would have thought such designation would have been possible. We know the designations create the future. If one is designated to the also-ran league, then one remains in it. Designated to the big boys’ league, however, and one tends to get the investment into the future.

I hope between Second Stage and Committee Stage, the Minister of State, coming from the west, will get over his initial annoyance at me and challenge, as I had to do on many an occasion when I was a Minister, the status quo. The Minister of State knows it is not rhetoric with me. He knows that when I went to Corr na Móna as a young person, well before I was in politics, my whole motivation in the 18 years in the co-op there was not to accept the status quo,not to accept the west was an also-ran, not to accept immigration or that we could not create jobs. The businesses we spawned, under different management, have been highly successful and did defeat the odds.

The Minister of State also remembers Monsignor Horan. The same kind of thinking that informs this Bill, namely that we do not need a tier-1 or tier-2 port from the Foynes on the south side of the Shannon Estuary up to Derry, was the same type of thinking against which Monsignor Horan fought. I would say the Minister of State cheered him on at the time for kicking over the traces and not listening to the gurus in the Departments of Finance and Transport. One of the best pieces of television I ever saw was the famous interview by Jim Fahy with Monsignor Horan at the end of the massive, long runway at Knock Airport.

The wind was blowing and one could see miles of runway behind Monsignor Horan. In his roguish way, pretending that he was the innocent parish priest, which the Minister of State knows he was not, he put his hands up to his mouth and roared into the microphone: "Do not tell them in Dublin. They do not know this is happening." Was he not proven right about making a stand?

It is a great privilege for the Minister of State to be in office. As I pointed out this morning, we have three more Question Times before it is all over, even if the Government goes to 9 March. The Minister of State is coming towards the end. We all want to leave a legacy. The Minister of State knows that, when I was Minister, I supported Knock in every way I could. I am proud of it. I suggest that the Minister of State return to the Department. If the Galway Port Company can provide the plans - it has them and is awaiting permission in the coming weeks following an oral hearing of An Bord Pleanála under the critical infrastructure Act that I attended some time ago - and convince him that, between Galway, Mayo, Roscommon and so on, there is enough business to keep the port going in Galway, including the business of incoming cruise liners, he should tell his senior Minister that he will leave a legacy for the west in the Department because he sees the big picture for the west, namely, what is good for Galway is good for Mayo and vice versa. The Minister of State should suggest and succeed in getting a simple amendment to this Bill, namely, the removal of the reference to Galway as a port of regional significance, the inclusion of a reference to it as at least a tier 2 port and the provision to the west coast, Connacht - the Cinderella province - and that part of Ulster that is in the Republic what they deserve. If he is big enough to do this and see the justice of the case, his legacy will stand on its merits.

See this speech in context