Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)

When the Minister was clarifying the composition of the board, he mentioned a lot of international heavyweights. While I am not in favour of excluding local authority members, it is important to strike a balance. I recognise that to set up a body such as this we must have an international component. Therefore, there should be a limiting restriction on a local authority member. Let me give one example.

As a Member of the Dáil, I supported the merger of the Shannon and Foynes harbour boards into the Shannon-Foynes Port Authority. The Minister said at the time that it would be a new dawn for the estuary and that there would be individuals with appropriate marine and business experience on the board. This is a classic example of how things can go wrong. On the board of 12 there are six local authority members, all Fianna Fáil, an imbalance which is crazy and wrong. I say this straight out. I made the same point in my own council chambers during the week to the annoyance of many of the Fianna Fáil members. If the Minister wanted to set up a board with credibility, it was important to recognise that there should be a huge business component. While I recognise the local authority's familiarity with the area, it is overboard to have local authority members comprise 50% of the board in order to accommodate the different counties that merged in the estuary. This classic example shows the total imbalance in regard to local authority representation. While I do not favour excluding local authority members, a balance should be struck.

In this case, even if there is a local authority member on the board, common sense should prevail. It is such an innovative project that it is necessary to take individuals from the mainstream of business with international experience in order to give credibility to the board.