Ciarán Cannon (Progressive Democrats)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the legislation, which has been drafted to enhance the long-term viability of the ports around our island nation. Our long-standing maritime tradition is one aspect of the economy that is often overlooked and the legislation shines a badly needed spotlight on the sector. It seeks to allow harbour authorities the flexibility and autonomy to operate in a high-pressured global environment and to create the kind of conditions needed to increase commercial activity in ports.

We currently have ten State port companies operating on our coasts and each of those companies has plans for the expansion and enhancement of its facilities in the coming years. Some of the ports are already in the middle of major expansion. For example, we recently saw the opening of a 190 m quay extension at the port of Waterford at a cost of €11 million. That extension will boost the port's growing cargo business and its reputation as one of north-west Europe's key maritime hubs. The new facility provides the port of Waterford and the commercial and industrial activities in its vicinity with the room to continue to grow into the future. In Cork there are progressive companies, for example, Mainport, which has gone in the past five or six years from owning and operating five or six vessels to 30, including seven recent vessel acquisitions.

Irish-based ship owners demonstrate that, given the right conditions, they can compete in tough, highly challenging global markets. On 1 August 2008 the Irish Maritime Development Office announced expansion plans by seven Irish-based shipping groups with an expected total cost of almost €1 billion. In the first six months of 2008, 21 new and second-hand vessels were acquired with a further 27 vessels confirmed or expected to be delivered over the next two years, most of which are newly built. While economic conditions in Ireland will be tougher in coming years, this is clearly not a factor constraining those Irish maritime companies that continue to compete successfully in the global marketplace. In announcing the expansion plans, Mr. Glenn Murphy, director of the Irish Maritime Development Office, said that the Government has created the commercial and financial conditions that have fostered an environment where both foreign and Irish companies can now expand and develop their business.

In the past 15 years the value of trade through Irish ports has grown from €28 billion per annum to €150 billion. Ireland has managed to establish itself among the top 15 international shipping finance centres and, earlier this year, gained admittance to the prestigious white list of top performing shipping states in the world. Obtaining white list status is an international recognition that Ireland operates a quality shipping register. It is against this background of proactive support for the Irish shipping industry that the legislation is founded. It seeks to assist the port authorities in growing and developing maritime businesses in future. For the first time, it seeks to provide a clear legislative basis to underpin investment by port companies outside their current harbour limits. This provision is necessary to facilitate the development and successful completion of proposals relating to investment by port companies outside their limits and outside the State. Special provision will be made to facilitate the proposed new port development at Bremore, County Meath, which has the potential to develop into a major maritime centre on the east coast.

The provision to reduce the number of directors the board of a port company from 12 to eight should improve the ability of commercial ports to deliver on their mandate. I have always believed that a small, tightly focused group of people committed to achieving a common goal can be far more effective than a large cumbersome group with diverse interests. The Minister of State, Deputy Devins, spoke of the rather nonsensical situation where, in some cases, the number of directors on port company boards is greater than the number of employees in the company.

On the role of local authority members on maritime boards, I share the concern expressed by some of my colleagues in the House that there is a gradual erosion of the powers of elected representatives. If we are to argue credibly for enhanced local representation and strengthened local democracy, however, we must acknowledge that there are, perhaps, no roles for certain local authority members on such boards. These are commercial entities operating in a highly pressurised global environment. The port companies at Drogheda, Waterford and Rosslare are not competing with each other but against such ports as Rotterdam and Southampton. If the expertise exists within our local authorities and if there are people who have the knowledge and commercial background to make a serious and worthwhile contribution to the running of these commercial entities, then let them serve on the board. The comments from Senator Cummins of his experience on the board of Waterford Port Company suggest that if he were currently a member of the relevant local authority, he would be an ideal candidate to occupy such a position. However, the suggestion that we should simply adopt people onto the boards of these commercial entities solely because they are members of a local authority is spurious and does not give credibility to the argument that we should have enhanced representation and strengthened local democracy. If we are to make this argument, we should be equally honest and state that there are times when local authority representation is not necessary and could be a hindrance.

We will give autonomy to the port authorities by allowing them greater flexibility to borrow to fund additional port capacity. The Irish Exporters Association has welcomed these aspects of the Bill. In its opinion the legislation will take some of the shackles off port company management and enable it to clear board decisions rapidly and raise the necessary loan finance to invest in new infrastructure which is essential to stay competitive in today's trading environment.

I commend this Bill to the House as it seeks to provide the autonomy and flexibility that port authorities need to grow. They are an important element of our economy.