Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have listened to other speakers and concur with a lot of what they said. I refer in particular to New Ross. I understand that two decades ago it was the fifth largest port in the country by volume of trade. My business background involved working in ports all of my life, particularly in New Ross. I was also involved in operations in the ports of Foynes and Waterford.

The closure of Albatros, which was a very large customer, the expiry of zinc from the Arcon mines and the transfer of a lot of oil imports from the port of New Ross have eradicated much of the trade at the port. It is not generally known that in the 12th and 13th centuries New Ross was reputed to be the largest port in the country. In the middle of the 19th century it was a very prominent port - many of our emigrants left from New Ross and went directly to places such as Vancouver and Liverpool. It was a very busy port and trade then declined for well over half a century until, I understand, the Stafford family invested in the port. It then became very active, and over the years many hundreds of people and their families earned a living from it.

I was a member of a local authority for 30 years. I am not convinced that transferring assets to local authorities will assist in any way in the rejuvenation of ports. As semi-state ports, they had a commercial focus that is missing in the current proposals. I understand Drogheda is on the list of ports to be transferred. I saw great potential in that port. At one stage, I was involved in trying to acquire it in order that we could have activity there. I saw potential in the outer port of Drogheda, in particular, for transferring of some of the work done in Dublin Port to a deep-water port in the area. It has always struck me as something of an anomaly that the major port in the country is located in the middle of a city. A lot of investment has taken place, which might make such a change uneconomical. During the past decade the real estate value of ports was such that the opening of a new port in a deep-water location somewhere north of Dublin would have underpinned significant development. That opportunity has been lost, but it may return. It should be part of our thinking. In all probability, there would not have been a necessity for the port tunnel if the port had been transferred north of the city. We need that kind of strategic thinking to emerge, particularly in the medium and long term. Unfortunately, we do not have that within our public service.