Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I would have preferred to see the Minister, Deputy Coveney, but I am aware the Minister of State has some knowledge of and interest in this matter.

This weekend the Howth business and wider community will host the Dublin Bay Prawn Festival, which has an outstanding programme of activities including food tasting, cookery demonstrations, live music starting tonight with The Luke Kelly Experience in the Abbey Tavern, walking tours, fireworks and children's activities. The Acting Chairman is welcome to come over from his southern fastness and visit us out in the peninsula for this annual festival. Unfortunately, the Ministers, Deputy Coveney and Deputy Bruton, are planning to spoil all the fun. There has been a tremendous effort - as the Minister of State is aware, because he attended our chamber of commerce - on the part of the business and community organisation, in hosting events such as the prawn festival and many other activities, to develop, maintain and expand leisure activities, and particularly marine tourism, in the entire peninsula area.

People are devastated by the proposal to introduce paid parking charges in the harbour. As the Minister will be aware from his portfolio, local businesses are struggling to keep people employed, including one of the businesses on the pier, Doran's, which employs 62 workers. Many of the jobs in the wider restaurant business are threatened if the two Ministers go ahead with this proposal. As the Acting Chairman is aware, Howth is a unique tourist and leisure destination for all of Dublin and the wider Leinster region, but visitors will be discouraged from visiting the peninsula if these charges are introduced.

I first raised this matter with the Minister, Deputy Coveney, last autumn. In the intervening period I have been contacted by hundreds of local residents, neighbours and community and sporting organisations which are bitterly opposed to this proposal because they believe it will inevitably lead to paid parking through the town and across the peninsula. Incredibly, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, has refused to meet some of the key stakeholders and, as the Minister of State is aware, he launched this proposal without meeting anybody. The Minister told me in reply to a parliamentary question recently that he has received a good deal of correspondence from a wide range of harbour users and workers and the local community. He also mentioned the website, which is howthharbourparking.webs.com. All of our community leaders and groups in Howth are more than willing to meet the Minister of State and the senior Minister but they want a commitment today that the Department will engage in a proper consultation process, examine the economics of this proposal and determine, as we see clearly, that it is ill-judged and should be withdrawn.

There was some indication in previous replies from the Minister that the Garda had been contacted about parking and safety issues in the harbour, but I was assured by our local superintendent that no such complaint was made and no such problem raised.

One of the extraordinary aspects of this saga is that of the six fishery harbours, only Howth has been singled out for a paid parking regime. I am aware there are some charges in Rossaveal and Dingle but the local businesses in the Rossaveal area are located outside the parking area of the harbour. The users of Dingle have a code that allows them walk through and not pay. The key sister fishery harbours of Howth, two of which I know very well - Castletown and Killybegs - have no such regime and they will not have, as the Minister knows from visiting those areas, because it would not be tolerated. As Mr. Paul Brady, president of our Howth Sutton Baldoyle Chamber of Commerce, reminded me in one of his excellent briefings on this issue, the introduction of paid charges has resulted in business closures at Dún Laoghaire Harbour.

The Minister has told me that the annual income to the Department from Howth is €766,000, €182,000 of which is direct income from the fishing industry. The bulk of the remainder comes from restaurants, leisure and marine businesses, including our world-famous yacht club. Those figures given by the Minister, Deputy Coveney, some months ago confirm the vital importance of the marine leisure sector to the economic vibrancy of Howth Harbour, yet there is no indication that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has carried out even a basic cost-benefit analysis of the costings and the amount of money that would be lost were this proposal to go ahead.

There has been a total failure of public policy formation in this matter. The importance of the Howth Peninsula and Howth town and harbour to the leisure activities of a wide tranche of north Dublin and the wider north Leinster region has been ignored. I ask that the Minister, Deputy Coveney, withdraw the proposal.

The Minister of State visited our chamber of commerce and made an excellent presentation on developing businesses in the Howth-Sutton-Baldoyle area. What we should be looking at are proactive ways, such as those he referred to that day, in which we can promote business, rather than destroy it. Residents of Howth are delighted to see visitors arrive, often in their tens of thousands on fine weekends, but this proposal would, unfortunately, be disastrous for them.

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I enjoyed my visit to Howth very much at the invitation of the chamber of commerce and I compliment it on the fantastic facility there, the beautiful region and the whole opportunity for business. The Government is very committed to small businesses, which are the backbone of the Irish economy, in particular, restaurants and pubs. We fully recognise that the 200,000 small companies and businesses are the engine that will drive our economy forward. This is the reason we are so concerned and have put so many initiatives in place to support business.

I am taking this issue on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Coveney. The House will be aware that the Minister has been considering introducing a charge for parking facilities within Howth fishery harbour centre for some time. This is being done so as to assist in operating Howth fishery harbour centre on a financially sound basis, to provide a source of revenue for further investments in the fishery harbour centre facilities, as part of an overall traffic management plan to bring order to what has become a source of concern to the harbour authorities and the emergency services and in order to maximise the return on this significant State asset.

Howth fishery harbour centre is first and foremost a working fishery harbour, one of six operated by the State, each of whose primary purpose is to provide facilities and services for the fishing industry and fisheries-related activities. Funding for operating, management and development costs in the fishery harbours is ring-fenced in the fishery harbour centres fund, which is the only source of revenue available for that purpose. Capital investment in the fishery harbour centres in recent years has underpinned both fisheries activities and the harbour's expanding use for leisure and marine tourism and other maritime enterprises. The House will appreciate that, in the current economic climate, the State must be fully committed to maximising the return on that investment. Moreover, the Department is required to ensure that the fishery harbour centres are run on a financially-sound basis. Parking fees for the 500-plus parking spaces within the boundaries of the harbour would assist in balancing the books and provide funding for improvements that would not otherwise be possible.

There is a wide range of users of Howth fishery harbour, business customers, yacht club members, sport fishermen, DART users, tourists, walkers and many others. All of these users need to use the parking facilities of Howth fishery harbour centre. This combination of uses and the wide range of users of the harbour brings its own inherent dangers, and safety must be a paramount consideration. There have been a number of occasions where the volume of cars in the harbour and the resultant pressure on parking has led to a situation where emergency access has been seriously compromised. The harbour authorities have received specific complaints from elements of the emergency services in that regard, but, fortunately, no serious incident has arisen yet.

Department officials have consulted with officials of Fingal County Council and with An Garda Síochána about this and other related matters and the Department's engineers have met some of the harbour's business tenants individually about new traffic management and road markings, etc. The Department officials also attended the harbour users forum in February, where pay-parking was on the agenda and there they heard the views of the harbour users at first hand. There was widespread public consultation when pay-parking at Howth fishery harbour centre was originally examined in detail in 2007, in conjunction with Fingal County Council. All of the various views expressed and submissions made then are still available and the Minister is well aware of the concerns and has acknowledged them.

The Minister has received new correspondence on the matter from a wide range of harbour users and he is reviewing all aspects of the matter at present. He assures the House that the views of the various harbour users, the potential earnings, the possible impact on the harbour businesses and recreational users, the impact on the local economy and local jobs and the impact on overall traffic management within the fishery harbour are all matters that he will take into account in coming to a decision. He also assures the House and all of the harbour users in Howth that he is committed to continuing to invest in the development of Howth for the future.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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The Minister of State has said there have been a number of occasions where the volume of cars in the harbour led to a situation where emergency access had been seriously compromised. I do not accept that. Nobody has complained to me about that and I have not heard of it. I believe it is an issue to do with the management of the harbour and the current management regime, which some people think needs to be drastically reformed so that it operates in the interest of the users of the harbour, visitors and local residents. There is an issue in that regard. I checked with An Garda Síochána and with the local superintendent in Raheny and I was told there had been no complaint nor had a recommendation been made in regard to this. If there was a health and safety issue with regard to parking, it would be at Sutton Cross, because of the significant volume of people - up to 20,000 - trying to drive onto the Howth peninsula on a very sunny Sunday.

It is astonishing that we have not had a cost benefit analysis of this proposal and that the Minister of State could not tell me the likely impact of a particular regime of charges, or what effect that would have on the number of visitors visiting the peninsula when the weather is fine. One of the astonishing things about the Howth peninsula is that visitors, including overseas visitors, are often advised to visit this part of Dublin. These visitors will be gravely discouraged by the proposal.

The Minister of State did not address the issue of other fishery harbours. I know Castletownbere harbour particularly well and Killybegs and I do not believe it would ever be possible that such a regime would be introduced in those harbours. That will not happen. The Minister of State will remember that in the past he held a brief regarding this area and he is aware of the quality of the fishing industry in both of those harbours. We need to see the basic cost-benefit figures on this proposal, but I believe that however we look at it, they will not stack up and the proposal should be abandoned. I urge the Minister of State to talk to the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and to talk to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, who aspires to representing the Howth area some day. He does not represent it currently, but perhaps he will stand for it in the next election. It would be disastrous if he permitted the Minister, Deputy Coveney, to introduce this regime.

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I have no doubt that based on the skills and competence of the Minister, Deputy Bruton, when he decides to stand for that area the people will recognise his significant talent and ability and will elect him to represent the area.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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I am now operating in his old territory.

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I do not see him having any difficulty in that regard in any sense. However, business is business when it comes to State assets and our 68 ports. I know the potential of Rossaveal, Killybegs and Castletownbere very well. In regard to Howth, obviously the 500 car-parking spaces are in a premium location for business. When we go to any town or business centre, parking is generally reasonably priced and is value for money and provides safety for cars. This is reassuring. Wherever one goes, it is hard to expect to get everything for free. The issue also relates to access for emergency services.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Parking in out of town shopping centres is free.

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Broughan must agree that many people use free parking to park for the day. This is not good for business. The ideal for a business is that somebody comes in to do their business and only parks for an hour or two, leaving the parking space free then for someone else. However, if somebody parks for the whole day because it is free, that is not good for business. If we were to do due diligence and a business EIS on this, we would want to get people in and out and allow new cars in. This is what we want from the point of view of business. If I were a business operator in Howth, I would welcome a well-managed system that would allow better use of the car park rather than a system that allowed people to hog the parking for the whole day for free. From a business point of view, if I was a restaurant owner in Howth, I would not like to think a car was taking up a parking place all day, preventing my customer from coming in and having lunch. We should look at the issue from the point of view of business and value for money.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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The Deputy does not know the area. I would not presume to talk about Enniscrone or Sligo.

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I would not go down that road. The Deputy would certainly lose that argument.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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The Minister of State is making an argument he is not in a position to make.

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I believe this is a good State investment. The money is ring-fenced and will go back into the facility's infrastructure. The Minister has taken submissions on this from all the fishery harbours and I have no doubt he will take the Deputy's opinion on board.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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He got it wrong in the first instance.

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I have no doubt he will take it on board. That is my overview from being in Ros a' Mhíl, Castletownbere and Killybegs. These State assets have to stand on their own feet. Value for money has to be provided.