Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)

With all due respect, there is one way in which the Minister of State can reassure me, that is, by accepting my amendments, which he may do later this evening or on the next occasion. He is coming around to my way of thinking.

I refer to section 18 to which my amendment refers. It is important for me to state my position and the difficulty I am in. The section states:

18.—(1) The Principal Act is amended by inserting the following section after section 87:

"87A.—(1) In this section—

'relevant harbour commissioners' means—

(a) in relation to the Port of Cork Company, Bantry Bay Harbour Commissioners, and

(b) in relation to the Shannon Foynes Port Company, Tralee and Fenit Pier and Harbour Commissioners;

'relevant port company' means—

(a) in relation to Bantry Bay Harbour Commissioners, the Port of Cork Company, and

(b) in relation to Tralee and Fenit Pier and Harbour Commissioners, the Shannon Foynes Port Company;

This, in itself, implies they are gone already. The section also states: "'transfer day' means the day appointed by the Minister under paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (2)".

It is not one of these soccer transfers where clubs pay millions and there is much interest from Sky and CNN. This provision will give effect to the merger. My suspicion does not focus on the Minister personally. Having studied law for some years, including Roman and other historic law, I can recall a Latin phrase that applies when a matter is not crystal clear in legislation or negotiations: Inclusio unius est exclusio alterius. By including one provision, one is excluding the other. If I were in a court of law defending somebody or arguing technical points, I would not allow a client to put trust in this section.

The next paragraph of the proposed new section reads: "(2) (a) The Minister may by order appoint a day as the transfer day for the purposes of this section in respect of Bantry Bay Harbour and, with effect from that day, the Bantry Bay Harbour Commissioners are dissolved." This is stated in black and white, yet the Minister of State is asking me to trust——