Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

——and that Tralee and Fenit could be transferred to Shannon-Foynes.

If the Bill were passed, it would then leave a situation where the current options could be expanded. It would leave a situation whereby three options could be considered for Bantry, Tralee and Fenit. The first option, which is there already, would be the establishment of a private company for the harbour. Option two could transfer control to the relevant port company. Another option is to transfer control to the relevant local authority.

Two of those options are currently available. It has not yet happened regarding Bantry or Fenit, but either of the two options could have been put in place on any day over the past ten or 20 years while this history and discussion is ongoing. However, it has emerged from the reports on these two ports, Bantry and Fenit, which are probably the bigger ones of the small category, that because they have some commercial traffic they might be best suited to come under the control of an existing port. The ports policy statement indicated that the continued operation of the regional harbours under the rather outdated provisions of the 1946 Act was unsustainable on the grounds of good governance. That statement recommended the transfer of these harbours to local authority control or that, in cases where significant commercial traffic existed, consideration should be given to putting them under the relevant port control company. Some of the smaller ones have already been transferred to local authority control. I accept, however, that the ones we are talking about are in an in-between category.

Bantry was being considered at one stage for corporatisation but people felt there was not enough commercial traffic. I heard Senator O'Donovan say that it nearly happened. However, that is not the solution to all the world's problems because there are many legal and financial responsibilities. Smaller ports are very much on their own and cannot expect to become commercial entities in themselves. They will live or die by those rules. Some of the smaller ports have been transferred to local authority control. There is also the third option that has not been taken up yet. The transfer of harbours to relevant port company control would facilitate their future development by providing access to the best regional port management expertise and marketing skills in order to further their commercial potential.

The high level review of the State's commercial sea ports, undertaken six years ago, recommended the amalgamation of Bantry Bay with the Port of Cork Company. Those recommendations fed into the ports policy statement, which has been worked on for the last couple of years. That in turn led to this legislation. There was, or should have been, plenty of discussion at the time when the ports policy was published in 2005. That consultation process has continued in respect of these harbours. The due diligence process, which has been conducted for a couple of years, is nearing completion. Part of the delay there was the purchase of foreshore by the harbour authority in Bantry.

Senator Walsh, who spoke earlier, has background knowledge of the matter. There is nothing wrong with anyone on the Government side tabling amendments to legislation. I have done so myself at times but it depends on how far one goes with it.