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

I move amendment No. 14:

In page 13, to delete lines 9 to 18.

As time is running out and the debate is to be guillotined, I will go through these amendments very quickly. This amendment is about the Minister being able to authorise borrowings by the harbour that exceed 50% of the value of the assets. The Minister has what he might call a safeguard to provide that one cannot borrow more than 50% of the value of the assets. Although that is a safeguard of some kind, I am worried about the borrowing already taking place and which may continue. We had a discussion about the shares and so on. This relates to my fear of a slippery slope whereby the assets of harbours would be put up for sale to finance risky and dangerous projects. I have talked at length about the fact that we think one such project is under way in Dún Laoghaire and could put the assets of the harbour seriously at risk. While I welcome some safeguard, it does not go as far as I would like. I do not think we should put public assets of this sort at risk.

Having included some safeguard, the Minister is leaving open the option to remove it. I do not think he should do this in the Bill. We should not risk the assets of harbours and ports and the Minister certainly should not have the power to risk more than 50% of the value of these assets on dangerous gambles. This provision is a safeguard against privatisation, whether it be as a result of a conscious decision or inadvertently as a consequence of a dangerous financial gamble. Such a consequence is equally a great threat when companies are allowed to borrow lots of money to fund speculative ventures. We simply should not give the Minister the power to go over the 50% ceiling.

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