Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

We have debated this issue extensively. The decision to give precedence to the elected representatives in key areas of decision making around harbours, in this case, Dún Laoghaire Harbour, can only be made in this House. It is fair to say that kind of decision might have to be taken in conjunction with the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government but we have well flagged this and every Government and every party is well aware that there is a desire and appetite for more power to be in the hands of elected representatives and maybe less in the hands of CEOs and county managers. I am of that view. In so far as this Bill concerns how we structure the relationship between local authorities and harbours, we want the pre-eminent say in that matter to be in the hands of elected representatives, who are accountable to the public, and that those elected representatives should be required simply to consult with a stakeholders’ group. They will make the decision but will also have to consult. There are two aspects to this, as against the provisions in the Bill that many of those powers and the final decision making will rest in the hands of the CEO who, with no disrespect to CEOs, is not accountable to the public. This is a more thoroughgoing, democratic reform of a relationship between local authorities and, in this case, harbours.

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