Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his raising this Topical Issue. I presume it is the first one he has raised on this side of the House. Indeed, he must consider himself lucky to have been selected as I imagine he now realises how lucky those of us were whose matters were selected by him over the years.

I have the same affection as Deputy Barrett for Dún Laoghaire harbour and for Dún Laoghaire because I used the harbour as a child, as he did, and I lived in the constituency for many years as well. Nothing would please me more than to see it restored to commercial prosperity or to see the activities which used to exist return, such as the mail boat. However, at the moment, as the Deputy has so well outlined, many of those activities have ceased for commercial reasons. Therefore, the harbour company and others, including the local authority and my Department, have been looking at ways of adapting to the changes that have taken place. I realise they are not satisfactory to everyone. Indeed, I believe there has been a good case made for both sides. Ultimately, however, if there is not a commercial future for Dún Laoghaire in the old ways, the ways of the ferries and freight, then we have to look for new ways to bring it into a profitable and environmentally-friendly state.

In recent years, Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company has been restructuring its business to keep it on a sustainable financial footing and to enable the harbour to develop and operate on a commercial basis in future.

The port continues to face a challenging financial and operating environment as it transitions from commercial shipping activities, with the cessation of the Stena Line service, towards a different model which is more focused on marine leisure and marine-related tourism, while it prepares for transfer to the local authority. The company has been pursuing a twin strategy of developing alternative income streams from marine leisure and tourism-related business, while also reducing its high cost base.

The Dún Laoghaire Harbour master plan, published in 2011, identified the need to develop strategies to ensure the long-term future of the harbour in view of the declining importance of ferry traffic at that time. Since then, Stena Line has withdrawn its ferry service from Dún Laoghaire Harbour. Stena Line had operated the HSS Stena Explorersince 1996 during which time the vessel carried a mixture of passengers, car and coach traffic.

After 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 represented a decline of over 90% in volume. This, combined with increasing fuel and operating costs, made the route unsustainable. Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company is seeking alternative providers to operate a seasonal service on the route. A call for expressions of interest in operating this service has issued on eTenders. It is hoped that a replacement passenger service might be possible at some stage in the future. The departure of Stena Line adds to the future challenges for the company. The financial impact on the port is significant and it is clear the company now faces a very different financial and operating environment than it faced previously.

The possible development of the cruise business was identified as one of the opportunities to be pursued in the master plan. A cruise stakeholder group was established, comprising the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and the Dún Laoghaire Business Improvement District. The harbour company prepared a business case for the construction and operation of a cruise facility. This study advised that the optimum method of expanding the cruise business into Dublin Bay was to construct a dedicated cruise berth that would be capable of taking vessels greater than 300 m and preferably being able to accommodate next-generation cruise ships at 339 m. The study estimated the cost of a new cruise berth of this size would be approximately €15 million to €18 million. The expansion and development of the cruise business would undoubtedly offer significant economic benefits to the port and the surrounding areas.

Since 2011 some progress has been made in attracting cruise business. In 2013, eight vessels in excess of 300 m visited the port for the first time, while four smaller vessels also came alongside. Six cruise ships visited Dún Laoghaire in 2014, eight in 2015 and up to eight cruise calls are expected this year.

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