Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response. I always value his attendance in the House. My experience of being locked up downstairs for the past few months has meant that in recent times I have not recognised any of part of the economy except banks. I hope, however, that I was trying to pay attention within those constraints.

The Minister's comments on Galway Port are welcome. The company is making €456,000 profit on 144 ship visits per annum, which amounts to approximately €3,000 per ship. This appears to be a pretty good return and I contend that the port should be given more than 18 months to increase its profitability. I view local authorities in the context of the McLoughlin report, which I will not dwell on, and the serious housing problems they are facing. What are county managers supposed to bring to the specialised activity of running harbours? The 47 staff in Rosslare Harbour achieve an annual profit of approximately €1 million on a turnover of approximately €10 million. These are not railway staff but a group of people who specialise in running the port. The success of the ports to which the Minister referred illustrates my point. Do the local authorities possess previously unknown hidden talents that will enable them to start running sea ports?

The Minister is correct that Galway Port has experienced a wobble as a result of the recession. However, it is currently making a profit of €456,000 on 144 ship visits. Drogheda Port is also on the list for transfer to local authority ownership. It had 332 ship movements in 2008 and 314 in 2013, which indicates it has recovered to reach 95% of its previous activity. As the Minister stated, given recent changes in shipping, few ports have returned to 95% of previous activity levels. What will the combined wisdom of Louth and Meath county councils bring to the running of Drogheda Port? I pose this question somewhat rhetorically. Would Drogheda Port also benefit from a pause of 18 months?

As the figures show, New Ross Port, which is also listed, has experienced problems and I am sure the Minister is concerned that it made losses of €200,000 in 2012 and €333,000 in 2013. I do not know whether activity has picked up in the port in the meantime. Wicklow Port is doing better than Arklow Port, having reached a break-even position with a profit of €33,000. In my time in transport economics with people such as the Minister, I learned that ports are a specialised business. I do not see what they stand to gain from local authority control as they have a commercial challenge to deal with.

I welcome the Minister's comments on due diligence, which were very reassuring. While provision may have been made for different transitional models, I am not sure what happens with integrated planning.

Perhaps one should not be unduly influenced by having spent the best part of two years with bankers. The consensus we believed existed between the Department of Finance, the Central Bank, the banks, the regulator and so on was achieved by shutting out contrarian views, in particular those of Morgan Kelly, although he was not alone as David McWilliams and the National Treasury Management Agency also had different views on banking.Perhaps people tell Ministers what they think those Ministers want to hear and then tell others what they think they want to hear.

I am not going to press the amendments Nos. 2, 3 or 35 because I was pleased to hear the Minister's comments on how carefully he is going to evaluate these options. However, I am glad the amendments were tabled because it was a most interesting discussion, perhaps because some people were involved in too many bank-related discussions and left out harbours and seaports and should have been talking to the Minister. I am indebted to the Minister for his views on that matter. I see Galway and Drogheda ports in a stronger position than might otherwise have been envisaged. There is a problem in respect of New Ross Port which requires special attention. Wicklow Port seems to be doing all right and it may not want to follow Arklow into the control of Wicklow County Council. I thank the Minister wholeheartedly for what he has said.