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

One very important part of our infrastructure is ports and harbours. I want to know if the Government has discussed the very long-running saga of Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company. The Harbours Act, brought forward by the Government, suggests that the harbour company will be transferred to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. This has still not happened although most other harbour companies have been transferred to their local authorities. This is because a harbour company quango and its very highly paid executives have frustrated the process by refusing to co-operate with the local authority in a due diligence examination of its financial situation. A risk assessment arising out of the due diligence process has identified a whole series of very serious financial risks. The company is refusing to give the information coming out of the risk assessment on those financial risks to the local authorities, to public representatives or to anybody on the grounds of commercial secrecy. This saga has gone on and on and yet we have had crazy plans for cruise ship berths costing millions of euro. We have a beautiful amenity which is just sitting there and rotting while the harbour company quango plays games with the local authority. Will the Cabinet committee discuss this and will it ensure that the Harbours Act is acted upon so this quango is dissolved and we can have real accountability over this critical piece of infrastructure?

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