Lisa McDonald (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the broad thrust of this Bill. The ten port authorities it covers are currently covered by the Harbours Acts. The years to come will represent an important era for the harbours in question. They will get investment. They will be able to go outside their functioning area to acquire assets, etc. That is all to be welcomed. I am wary of the proposal to give further powers to An Bord Pleanála. I do not believe the general public has much confidence in the proposal. Those who have had dealings with An Bord Pleanála on planning permissions, etc., associate the organisation with a lack of transparency and accountability. I do not understand why local authorities are not being given the power to compulsorily acquire land where relevant, possible or necessary. As Senator Keaveney said, local representatives often have more knowledge of these matters. It is generally the case that local authorities are used to working in the areas in question. It is a new departure to give An Bord Pleanála more powers, in this day and age. I would not be keen to undermine local authorities any more than they have already been undermined. Many people, on foot of their own experiences, are not impressed by the proposal to give An Bord Pleanála further clout.

As a native of Wexford town, I am a little upset about one aspect of the Bill. The three most important ports in County Wexford are Rosslare Europort, Kilmore Quay and the old harbour in Wexford town. Their importance differs as they have differing functions and levels of activity — they are not in competition with each other. It is astonishing that Rosslare Europort is not mentioned in this legislation, and has scarcely been mentioned during this debate, given that it is the nearest Irish port to the UK and mainland Europe. Perhaps the Minister of State intends to introduce a separate Bill to provide for Rosslare Europort. I would welcome such legislation because it is needed. As someone who often travels to Rosslare, I can inform the House that ships often have to wait at sea before they can berth because passengers are disembarking from another ship at the port. It badly needs investment and this Bill does not provide for Rosslare Europort. I am very upset about that.

One Senator said Waterford had the most important port in the south east, but I think Waterford and Rosslare have completely different functions. Rosslare is ro-ro whereas Waterford is more freight orientated. In that respect they do not need to be mutually exclusive. I appreciate it is run by CIE and a separate Bill may be required, but I do not want the opportunity to pass without mentioning it.

Kilmore Quay is the most important fishing port on the south-east coast and one would need to go as far as Castletownbere to find a port that is as busy. The fishing industry there has gone through its worst ever turmoil in the past five years. Senator Keaveney called for more pressure to be placed on local authorities to provide investment. It is very difficult and we need to look at the area of investment. There are people in Wexford who do not have berths for their leisure craft. New marinas could be provided at the smaller piers that are no longer in action.

I notice that three ports — Fenit, Tralee and Bantry — have been given flexibility to transfer to local authority control or to have their own port company because of their commercial activity. Every year, €15 million worth of mussels are harvested in Wexford Harbour and one can go anywhere in Europe and find Wexford mussels on the menus of hotels and restaurants. Wexford Port, which used to be so important to this economy in years gone by, is still an active, working port and should have been included in that list. I have spoken to the county manager about this and the council has concerns that it will not be able to provide the investment required for this working port. Small things like slipways, buoys in the harbour and so on are all issues of concern to the local authorities in respect of this matter. They need some clarification. Perhaps it has been given and I am not aware of it. I know the harbour commissioners in Wexford made the case to the Department for inclusion but it has not been included. I wonder whether anything will be done about it.

We are all aware Wexford hosts the international opera festival, which is coming up shortly. The marina in Wexford is a fabulous vantage point for Ireland from a tourist perspective. It is very important the situation is not reached with the harbour where the level of investment required will not be provided. I generally welcome the Bill, including the investment for the ports that are covered in it, but I am concerned about the ports that are not covered.