Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The port companies I have exempted are the remaining nine commercial port companies. Others have been merged. The port companies proposed for deletion by the Senator are all commercial port companies established under the Harbours Act 1996. Under the Act, 11 of the commercial harbours under the Harbours Act 1946 were established as companies under the Companies Acts, while others were either transferred to local authorities or dissolved. Since then, Shannon and Foynes have merged and Dundalk Port Company has been dissolved and its functions subsumed into the Dublin Port Company. The nine remaining port companies which operate as commercial ports are captured by the exclusion.