Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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61. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he met with or will meet with the chief executive or any senior officials of Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council regarding the future governance of Dún Laoghaire Harbour as legislated for in the Harbours Act 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15609/16]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Minister will be aware that, for some years now, I have been questioning the policies, status, governance and operations of Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company. I note that, at the weekend, the Minister spoke out, as he has tended to do over the years, against quangos and on his determination to deal with the quangos under his remit. Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company is a quango, and a choice will be made soon as to whether it will continue to be a quango or whether it will be dissolved. In so far as the Minister has influence on this decision, who is the Minister going to meet? Is he going to meet just the board and council officials, or will he meet stakeholder groups and public representatives in order to try to move towards the dissolution of this quango and bring the Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company under democratic public control?

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I thank Deputy Boyd Barrett for his question. I am aware of the excellent work he has done on this project for a long period of time. It is always a cause of great embarrassment to him and to me when we find ourselves on the same side on issues of this sort, but I am afraid we may find ourselves in that position again today. That does not mean I am going to meet exactly who Deputy Boyd Barrett wants me to meet, but it does mean I think there is a necessity to make haste on this issue. I will answer the Deputy's first question, on who I should and should not meet, although I do not think it is set in stone. These kinds of rigid situations where someone does not meet people because it is not their function are a little too orthodox for my liking. If it is useful, I will meet people, but if it is going to be damaging or just a display of ministerial action without achieving anything, I will not do it. Of course, I would be very happy to talk to Deputy Boyd Barrett, as a public representative, on this area at any time, and that might be the most appropriate form of contact.

The Harbours Act 2015 provides the legislative basis for one of the key recommendations in the national ports policy, namely, that governance of the five ports of regional significance should vest in more appropriate local authority-led governance structures. The process of transferring governance, and the future governance and operational structures of the port, are primarily matters for agreement between the local authority and the port company and I do not think that is in dispute. The Act provides that the two entities should work together in driving the process of transfer, including the necessary due diligence. In the case of Dún Laoghaire, I understand this process is now fairly well advanced.

As ports operate as commercial companies, I am not involved in day-to-day operational issues. Nor is it normally appropriate for me to meet directly with local authorities or local interest groups on these issues. However, I can confirm that a widespread public consultation process was undertaken by my officials from 2010 onwards, prior to the publication of the national ports policy 2013, and again during the legislative process leading up to the enactment of the Harbours Act 2015. Other public consultation processes were undertaken by the port company on a range of issues and provided an opportunity for all stakeholders and interested parties to give their views on the future of the harbour.

Since 2013, when the transfer process commenced, senior officials from my Department have met Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company and the chief executive and senior officials of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council on a number of occasions to clarify issues raised and to advise on the transfer process. My Department has also been kept apprised of developments as part of the regular communications that take place between the company and shareholder.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I welcome the positive response about meeting people. I am concerned the decision about the future governance of the harbour is, according to the Minister's scripted response, a decision between the existing harbour company executive and the council executive. This is not good enough because on all of the major issues, whether it is cruise berths, executive salaries of crazy amounts, such as €160,000 for the CEO, and other plans, the harbour company and the council have alienated and are at odds with wider public opinion, harbour users and stakeholders. The Minister should meet not just the harbour company, which will want to save its own skin and save the quango, or the council officials, but also meet the real stakeholders and public representatives so that their voices are heard. The Minister will find their view of how the harbour should be run and what its priorities, policies and future plans should be are at radical odds with what the harbour company executives and the full-time officials of the council think should be the case. I ask the Minister to meet a different group of genuine public stakeholders.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I am sympathetic with what Deputy Boyd Barrett has said but I am not sure that at the moment I would have any real function in meeting them, bar listening. I do not think after that I would be in a position to interfere in a process which is ongoing. If I were to meet them in the expectation that I would then interfere in the process, it would be wrong. It would also be wrong of me not to meet public representatives, and by that I include members of Dublin City Council and the local authorities. It would be wrong of me to refuse them point blank on any issue apart from on time grounds. I would be happy to meet public representatives and if Deputy wants to bring a group of all views to meet me, I will do so but do not expect me, as a result of that, to intervene in a process which is, of itself, moving slowly and not quite quickly enough.

Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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In advance of moving on to Question No. 62, I remind Members that under the new Standing Orders, the Deputy who tabled the question should be in attendance.