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

Very well, I will talk about each port but I will talk about Waterford for a moment to make clear it is not the kind of port that will be moving into a local authority structure. I simply wish to emphasise that point.

Likewise, while I acknowledge Senator Barrett appreciates this point on some of the ports to which he referred, I wish to make clear regarding the proposals for the Port of Dublin, the Port of Cork and Shannon Foynes Port Company that they are outside the remit of local authority ownership or governance. This Bill deals purely with the governance structure for a group of ports the Government proposes should move into local authority governance and by governance, I specifically mean who owns the share in this regard because as matters stand at present, as Minister, I and my Department hold the share and in this Bill, I am proposing that this share, through two different models, will be held by a local authority structure.

I will turn to the points made by Senator Barrett and will consider the amendments he has proposed. I absolutely agree with the Senator, who knows so much about this area, on much if not all of what he said in respect of the competitive reality faced by the ports and their centrality to the economic development of Ireland. During my time in office, I have had the opportunity to visit nearly all the ports for which I am responsible or to meet their boards or both.

As to how they are performing at present, many are doing well and some are doing very well but all are different. They all face many different challenges and in his contribution, the Senator picked up on this point. From my perspective, this is the great benefit of the national port policy on which I have worked, that I am proposing and from which this Bill flows. The policy recognises that all ports obviously are different but within that, a cluster of different ports are sufficiently similar to allow one to state some of them should be treated in a certain manner and that each group of ports plays a different role in how they support either the national economy or regional economies.

I will give a small example of the kind of market about which I am talking. If one considers the existing number of ports and the amount of business they now handle, five ports handle almost 90% of the tonnage that comes through the State.