Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the Senators for the different points they have made regarding the amendments before the House. At the outset, I wish to clarify what this Bill is and is not about, and to outline the work that has taken place to date in respect of the Bill and I might offer some context as to how the Government has reached this point with this Bill.

Work and consultation regarding national port policy began in 2010 and after three years of that work, the Government published a national port policy. The Bill before Members went through pre-legislative scrutiny and nearly three years after the publication of the aforementioned national port policy, the Government reached the point of publishing a Bill that deals primarily - I might address some of the points made by Senator Walsh in a moment - with ports of regional significance. That is the focus of this Bill and by way of offering this context to Members, I emphasise to them the amount of time, consultation and work that has gone into getting to this point. In particular, when Senators Craughwell or Barrett make the point about not moving with too much haste in considering how one deals with local authorities, I assure them that whatever this Bill can be accused of, one genuinely would struggle to levy the charge against the Government that it is moving too quickly in dealing with this matter. The Government has been moving with great care to deal with this issue in putting together a consultation period and then putting together a policy, which in turn has formed this Bill. As I stated, the Bill went through pre-legislative scrutiny, went through work in the Oireachtas transport committee and has now reached this point. To those Senators who raise the charge of rushing the legislation, I give this context and make the point about the time that has gone into getting to this point with this Bill.

If I turn to the Bill itself and refer to the ports raised by Senator Walsh, who focused his contribution on Rosslare and Waterford, for the purpose of absolute clarity they are ports of national significance, tier 2. Consequently, they are not part of the group of ports I propose to move into a model of local authority ownership. I agree with a point the Senator made regarding the Port of Waterford in particular to which he referred in his contribution.