Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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It is good to see Deputy Durkan in the Chair.

Residents and local business people in Howth were shocked before Christmas to learn of plans by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, to introduce car parking charges in Howth Harbour. Howth is one of the six national fishery harbours around the coastline and is also a most popular marine leisure and tourism resource for Dubliners and people of the entire north Leinster region. Local residents and business people, therefore, rightly fear that the introduction of car parking charges by the Minister could have a devastating effect on the vital marine and leisure tourism industries and the local economy in general.

I previously estimated that approximately 100,000 people come to Howth each year to walk the famous Howth tramline walkway alone. These walkers, and other tens of thousands of annual visitors, walk the pathways of the East and West Mountains or come into the harbour itself to walk. Many visit local restaurants or use the marine tourism and leisure facilities, including the world famous Howth Yacht Club and other boating and fishing services.

Local residents, of which I am one, and business people generally welcome the visitors as they are the lifeblood of the local Howth economy. Many residents have fought hard to protect the unique green and marine environment of Howth for residents and visitors alike. Given the ongoing economic difficulties, there are fears that the introduction of parking charges in Howth Harbour will deter many people from travelling to Howth especially if bringing equipment or gear for outdoor or leisure activities and must use their car. Residents and business people have rightly asked whether a full cost-benefit analysis has been carried out on the project and if the Minister has contacted other public stakeholders such as Fingal County Council or Irish Rail.

Mr. Paul Brady, president of Howth Sutton Baldoyle Chamber of Commerce reminded me that the introduction of paid parking has resulted in business closures at Dún Laoghaire Harbour. In response to my parliamentary question the Minister stated that the proposed charges are being introduced in the context of "traffic and parking management enhancements". He also stated that he is"convinced that the revenues generated by the introduction of such charges will provide the funds to develop [the harbour]".

There is no firm commitment in that regard. Restuarants, fish processors and fishmongers on the West Pier also rightly fear that once parking charges have been introduced they will be exponentially increased on an annual basis. The Minister also referred in his reply to health and safety fears for emergency vehicles on the West Pier. The local businesses regard that as a complete red herring because the problems could easily be dealt with through the use of designated spaces, for example. I have asked the Minister to undertake a full public consultation on the proposal, and to permit local residents and businesses to express their clear opposition to the proposed charges, which they have asked him to withdraw. This is important given that there appears to have been no consultation by the Minister with the local community or other public stakeholders.

I am sure, for example, that members of Fingal County Council and local councillors in the Howth-Malahide ward would be bitterly opposed to any measure which would increase the density of parking and traffic on the tight narrow streets of Howth and move traffic out of the harbour area. Local community leaders and groups including the Howth Sutton Community Council led by Ms Stephanie Davies, Mr. Charles Sargent, Mr. Des Gilroy and Mr. Raymond Sexton have been in touch on the proposed parking charges and have confirmed that there was no communication or consultation with the community council on the matter. Howth Sutton Community Council is an umbrella group for community, residents and business organisations across the Howth Sutton Peninsula and it has currently 40 member organisations, including the chamber of commerce led by president Mr. Paul Brady, Howth Yacht Club led by Mr. Pat Murphy, Howth Comhair Iascaire Teoranta, the fisheries co-operative, led by Captain Brian Doyle, all the churches, drug awareness groups, Beann Eadair GAA, Howth Celtic football club, Howth Golf Club, the Heritage Society, the tidy towns organisation, credit unions. Fingal County Council and An Garda Síochána are also represented. Given the range of community interests represented, it is astonishing that the Minister or the Department did not consult or communicate with this important body.

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy McGinley, for coming to respond to the debate. I am informed that there has been no local consultation and that the proposal is universally believed to be crazy. It would be bad for tourism in Howth and would deter valued visitors to the unique Howth Peninsula. It would be disastrous for the local economy. I urge the Minister to forget the proposal and to talk to the people of Howth.

Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Broughan for raising the matter. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, conveys his regret at being unable to attend the House personally today, but he has a number of important issues to which he must attend.

Howth is one of six fishery harbour centres operated by the State, each of whose primary purpose is to provide facilities and services for the fishing industry and fisheries-related activities. The introduction of parking charges at Howth fishery harbour centre was originally examined some years ago in the context of a proposed Howth traffic and parking management plan, in conjunction with Fingal County Council. The project did not subsequently proceed. However, it is generally acknowledged that traffic and parking management within the fishery harbour centre itself needs to be addressed, particularly in the light of concerns raised about safety and emergency access by the Coast Guard, the lifeboat service, and An Garda Síochána. The introduction of pay parking is one of a number of measures being introduced to address those concerns.

Howth fishery harbour centre is first and foremost a working fishery harbour. As such, full access is required for commercial traffic servicing the fishing side and the various ancillary enterprises, with appropriate parking arrangements. Other harbour users such as the yacht club and other social users also require reasonable access to parking facilities. A significant number of parking spaces in the fishery harbour is currently being taken up by commuters using the DART service during the working week, when the DART station car park is full. It is essential that the needs of all users are accommodated in a safe and secure facility.

There has been significant capital investment in the fishery harbour centres in recent years. In parallel with fishing-related enhancements, there have been a number of developments at the fishery harbours that underpin their expanding use for leisure and marine tourism, as well as other maritime enterprises. Howth, in particular, has a long tradition in these areas as well as in commercial fishing.

As a consequence of the additional investment, the State is necessarily fully committed to maximising the return on its investment. Furthermore, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is required to ensure that the fishery harbour centres are run on a financially sound basis. It is in those contexts that it is proposed to make a charge for the use of parking facilities provided within Howth fishery harbour centre, in the same way that a charge is made for using any of its other facilities.

All income generated by the fishery harbour centres goes back into a ring-fenced fishery harbour centres fund that is used exclusively for the operating, management and development costs of the fishery harbours. At this point I will explain the background to the funding mechanism involved in the day to day management of the six fishery harbour centres for the information of the House.

The Fishery Harbour Centres Act 1968, as amended, sets out the mechanism to be employed in funding the day to day operational costs of the six fishery harbour centres. All income received at each of the six fishery harbour centres is effectively lodged to what is known as the fishery harbour centres fund. All of the day-to-day running costs of each fishery harbour centre are financed from the fishery harbour centres fund and it is the only source of income available to fund the day to day operation and management of the fishery harbour centres. This expenditure includes, for example, harbour master and staff salaries, electricity and fuel costs, harbour cleaning, maintenance and so forth, without which the fishery harbour centres could not function and certainly could not provide a service to their customers, the harbour users and the visiting public. It is important to reiterate that all income lodged to the fishery harbour centres fund is invested directly back into the fishery harbour centres and is used for no other purpose.

The rates and charges order is the legal instrument that enables charges to be levied that provide the income necessary for the provision of the various services at the fishery harbours. It is important that the rates and charges are set at a level sufficient to provide adequately for the costs involved. At the same time, it is necessary to balance the need to finance the management of the harbours with the needs of the various harbour customers. The current rates and charges order, S.I. 214/2012, provides for a charge for parking but no set charge has yet been fixed for Howth. Given that there are approximately 500 parking spaces within the fishery harbour centre boundaries at present, it is clear that a significant source of revenue exists. It is illogical that harbour users would expect to continue to use such a facility free of charge given that the State is required to maintain that facility, and when only some users, that is other users of the harbour who are paying into the fishery harbour centres fund, are effectively paying for it. The Department is currently drafting a scheme for the new parking regime that will seek to be fair to all of the users of the harbour while at the same time ensuring that everybody pays their fair share. No details on timing or the level of charges have been determined at this stage.

The new parking arrangements will include pay and display parking for visitors and a permit management system for the harbour's business users. Regular harbour users will have noticed that all currently available parking spaces have been identified and marked recently. No additional spaces over and above those already available have been created, although it is expected that the addition of marked parking bays in some areas, where no spaces were marked up to now and parking was somewhat ad hoc, may lead to a small increase in the overall numbers of spaces available. The proposed new pay and display system will require the deployment of a number of pay machines at appropriate intervals around the harbour. The specification for those machines will of course address the potential environmental and visual impacts of the machines and of any associated directional signage. The Department has asked the planning department of Fingal County Council for guidance on its requirements in that regard and will be pleased to take account of any requirements and recommendations it may have.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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I remember showing the Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney's father, the late Hugh Coveney, around the port. I did so alone because the Fine Gael representative did not turn up. He spoke about the uniqueness of the peninsula and the fact that such a beautiful place was adjacent to a huge population of possible visitors. Fifteen or 16 years later that has not changed. I have not had the pleasure of meeting the Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, in Howth but I hope that is something that might be remedied. The Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy John Perry, was with our chamber of commerce some months ago. However, I hope the Minister, Deputy Coveney, will visit.

It is extraordinary that the Minister has not consulted the key stakeholders - I hope the Minister of State, Deputy McGinley, will convey that to him - particularly the Howth Sutton Community Council, which has existed for many decades, the chamber of commerce, which has a similarly lengthy history, and the world famous Howth Yacht Club. I ask him to have a full and detailed consultation on this matter. Bodies representing a gamut of commercial, sporting, cultural and marine organisations and businesses are bitterly opposed to the proposal.

The Minister referred to Fingal County Council. The county council scrapped this proposal following public uproar about a decade ago. It simply decided not to proceed with it due to the nature of the town, given the narrow streets of Howth, and because it would be disastrous for commercial business. The Minister did not respond to the point I made about Dún Laoghaire harbour. Our chamber of commerce believes Dún Laoghaire was seriously damaged by the introduction of charges in the harbour area.

Finally, we must have far more detailed information from the Minister as to what is being brought forward. He should talk to people. After doing so, he will, in justice, simply abandon this proposal, due to the uniqueness of Howth Port. There is a great port in the Minister's constituency of Donegal which I was pleased to visit on a number of occasions when I was spokesman on the marine for the Labour Party. Howth is geographically even more unique given that it is so close to 1.5 million people and is used by hundreds of thousands of them annually. I ask that the Minister, Deputy Coveney, take this on board, visit us in Howth and, hopefully, we will resolve this matter.

Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
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I assure the Deputy that his comments will be conveyed to the Minister. No details on timing or the level of charges have been determined at this stage. I am sure the consultations proposed by the Deputy will be sympathetically considered by the Minister. I will tell him about the proposal and it is on the record of the House.

I agree that Howth is probably one of the iconic areas of this country. I recall as a young schoolboy reading about Fionn MacCumhaill looking out to the sea from Binn Éadair on a fine summer's evening. I do not know whether it was at Niamh Cinn Óir or not, but it is in Irish folklore and mythology. Like any other fishing port, there is something magical about Howth. However, there must be some regulation of traffic there. If this is implemented all funds collected will go into a central fund for the maintenance of these fishery harbours, and Howth will get its share as well. Hopefully, it will lead to the improvement of traffic regulation there. The Deputy's comments will be brought to the Minister's attention.