Paschal Donohoe (Fine Gael)

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for that. I tabled my amendment, which I believe is supported by amendments from some of my colleagues, because some of the changes this legislation refers to, particularly in regard to the amalgamation and integration of port authorities, will be of major concern in local communities and among the industries and stakeholders that will make great use of these facilities.

When I was preparing for this legislation's passage through the Seanad, I spent some time reading the harbours strategy statement prepared by the Department of Transport in 2007. The main strategic need that policy document identified was the need to ensure that the port capacity will be in place to deal with the increasing amount of freight coming through our economy in the coming years. We also are aware that these ports are vital hubs of local industry and community throughout the country.

In some cases it may be right to integrate some of these ports and for smarter use to be made of this important infrastructure. I support the idea that under this Bill there should be the capacity to make a decision like that, but before the decision is made there should be a period of time to allow the local community, politicians and people who are concerned about these matters to put across their point of view, understand the type of decision being made and lobby either for or against it. In this time of economic difficulty with which we are all so familiar, something that would add unnecessarily to the concern of communities in coastal areas is the idea that a port upon which they depend will close or the way it is run will change without their understanding the reason and being given an opportunity to put their view across, lobby their local representatives and engage with the Department of Transport on it. My amendment, which is measured in that it calls for proper public consultation and allows the Oireachtas to have a say in it, speaks to that and would improve the legislation were it to be accepted.