Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Who are the harbour masters and what could they bring to the board? This is redundant as far as the Leader is concerned but for the rest of us, I will quote from the website of the International Harbour Masters Association:

Harbour Masters require a variety of skills as well as specialised knowledge and understanding. Traditionally Harbour Masters have a marine background and have usually served in a senior capacity at sea. Many have a STCW Master’s certificate of competency and many have served as master of a ship. Further, Harbour Masters may also develop skills around the management of personnel, environmental management, business development and others as part of their continuous professional development.

Harbour Masters will also be involved in monitoring the training and qualifications of their employees and other service providers in the port, and play a vital role in developing the next generation of port professionals including their deputies.

Another section of the website states:

Today’s Harbour Master is increasingly involved in the day to day management of port operations beyond the technical and statutory role of the Harbour Master. Increased involvement and greater responsibility in the operational and commercial business of a port, beyond the pure maritime elements, is another area of activity for many Harbour Masters.

This is a valuable person to have around. It is in the tradition of worker directors. We are going to move ports under the control of county councils, which will, in many cases, know very little about running a port, which is a pretty specialised business, as we have seen. We read into the record the last day the success of business in the four major ports, namely, Foynes, Cork, Dublin, the dominant one, and Rosslare. The next layer of ports makes about €0.5 million profit per year. We are pretty good at these businesses. Let us keep the expertise there in the new structure. There is much merit in what Senator Craughwell has proposed and in the Leader's response. It echoes many of the useful elements of the debate on Committee Stage. In that context, I am happy to second Senator Craughwell's amendment.