Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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35. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the progress of the due diligence that is being carried out in a company, details supplied, in anticipation of the transfer of ownership of the harbour and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38851/16]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The latest twist in the lamentable saga of Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company involves the company sending a notice to the Genealogical Society of Ireland on 14 November telling it that it was to be evicted from its premises on Carlisle Pier. I will go into that in more detail. It is extraordinary that this rogue company acts as a law unto itself when due diligence was supposed to start in May 2015. We still do not have the results of that due diligence and this harbour company continues to act as a completely unaccountable law unto itself. When is the due diligence coming and when will the decision be made about the governance of Dún Laoghaire Harbour?

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and not for the first time. I think he has another question on it later which looks enormously like a duplicate.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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It is to increase my chances in the lottery.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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It gives him a chance for two extra supplementaries later on.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The clock is ticking.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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As the Deputy is aware, 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 local authority led governance structures. Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company, as a port of regional significance, is designated under the policy for transfer to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.  The process of transferring governance and the future operational structures of the port are primarily matters for agreement between the council and Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company.

The council has procured consultants to conduct the due diligence of the port company.  While the procurement and management of the due diligence process is a matter for the council, I understand that a draft report has been recently forwarded to the port company for its consideration and comments. 

I also understand that Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council have established two transitional teams which are working on the practical issues associated with the transfer. When the due diligence process is completed, I expect that matters will progress towards agreeing a model and the timing of the transfer.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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This saga of due diligence has gone on at length and the harbour company has not signed off on the draft referred to by the Minister. It seems to want to do everything to slow down and delay this process, and our examination of the workings of a totally dysfunctional entity that needs to be dissolved. I ask the Minister to directly intervene as the main shareholder to stay the plan to evict the Genealogical Society of Ireland, which is a hugely important community and national resource for heritage that in particular serves the elderly community which involves itself in the activities of the society. The society is a model of such societies and is linked in with an international network of genealogical societies, universities and so on. The eviction of the Genealogical Society of Ireland is just another instance of a company that has attempted to sell off parts of the harbour, that is talking about a harebrained plan for a "flotel", that wants to borrow €18 million to build a giant cruise berth that nobody wants and that is now planning to lease the old terminal building for ten years, all of which are contrary to the interests and aspirations of the people of Dún Laoghaire. The company continues to act as a law unto itself. When will this charade end and when will the public get back control of Dún Laoghaire Harbour? I ask the Minister to help the Genealogical Society of Ireland.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I share the belief that it has taken far too long. Dún Laoghaire is certainly the slowest of these ports that will be taken into local authority control. I accept that the delay in decision making and progress in any direction is not satisfactory. However, I am very reluctant to interfere in a situation of this sort when it is really a matter for the local authority and the harbour company. I will make further inquiries purely on an information basis to find out where things are but as far as I know, we still have a draft report.

The Deputy took me by surprise with regard to the situation involving the Genealogical Society of Ireland. I did not know that and I agree with the Deputy that it is alarming to hear that this is happening. I am certainly not going to give a commitment to the Deputy that I will intervene immediately because I do not know enough about it but I give a commitment that I will try to find out about it, see if there is another side to the story and why this has happened and report back to the Deputy.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Genealogical Society of Ireland has written to me asking me to ask the Minister to intervene as the main shareholder. The situation is outrageous. This is a fantastic society and a huge resource and amenity for the local people that has links to all sorts of organisations nationally and internationally. It would be unconscionable if this harbour company was to evict it and I appeal to the Minister to intervene and make sure that does not happen. I appeal to him more generally because we cannot continue to allow this company to work up harebrained plans that nobody wants and to try to sell off and lease parts of the harbour when what the people want is a national maritime diaspora and sports amenity in the harbour which would be a huge boost to Dún Laoghaire, the Dublin region and the entire country, where groups like the Genealogical Society of Ireland could be housed and where we could have a huge heritage amenity. However, this will only happen if we seize control of the harbour from this dysfunctional quango.

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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I think "seizing control" is emotive language of the kind I might have used when I was sitting in the Deputy's seat but which I would not use from here. The Deputy can be assured that I understand and share his impatience. I also share his views about the doubtful nature of some of the schemes that have been put forward such as cruise terminals. In respect of where the funding for such a project would come from, I believe a sum of between €15 million to €20 million would be involved. I do not think that is necessarily a very realistic project for Dún Laoghaire. I have heard of others that sound somewhat exotic but are probably not particularly profitable. It is certainly the policy of my Department that it should be an amenity area. I guarantee that I will look into the situation involving the Genealogical Society of Ireland as soon as possible and probably report back to the Deputy privately. I can do it in the House if he likes but it would probably be quicker to do it privately.