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

In all of the consultation we went through to develop the policy, in particular in relation to ports of regional significance, at no point did we encounter any great demand or even interest within the private sector to buy ports in their entirety. There is a lack of demand at the moment. Were the demand to develop in the future, my view is that up to a 49% share would deliver the kind of equity holding that in turn would deliver a commercial return for investors to be interested in it. However, and here is the "but", as a small open economy for which access is of fundamental importance, it is prudent for us to retain the right to at least have a majority share in port assets if not to entirely own them outright. It will not surprise the Senator to hear me say that I do not believe private sector investment in State assets is a bad thing. It can play a very positive role in developing assets like ports. Given their importance to our ability to trade regionally and nationally, however, the State should have the ability to retain an ownership stake.