Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I can see where Senator Craughwell is coming from but if the word "shall" was in the section, it would mean the harbour master would have to be there on all occasions.They would not even be able to excuse themselves if and when a conflict of interest arose. The word "may" is probably much better in such circumstances because there are occasions when a harbour master may have a conflict of interest and he or she may not be able to attend on all occasions.

There is a facility for the appointment of two temporary board members until 2018. Is it at the discretion of the chief executive of the local authority to bring them on board in the interim? The board would revert to eight people when the new system is up and running. We currently have very competent local authority councillors on the board in the likes of Dún Laoghaire and various other places. What would be their position? There are legal, accountancy and other qualifications and those competencies are available in the council chamber through councillors. What is the position of councillors? The councillors have brought in those competencies. Senator O'Neill spoke about how local knowledge is so important and I agree with him. When we are elected as public representatives, we do not grow horns. We still have competencies in the chamber.

Local councillors are not barred from local enterprise offices, LEOs, which deal with every enterprise in the various counties. The ports are an enterprise and we are missing the boat big time by barring local councillors from the boards of harbours. We have seen good ideas coming from local councillors on the boards of the ports that they sat on previously. Why are they being barred now? Is there any way that the Minister can change this? Perhaps he can allow them to apply in the public process, the same as everybody else. There are competencies in councils, including legal and accountancy skills, as somebody wrote in The Irish Timeslast week, and it has seen major change as a result. Local knowledge is a major competency as well, even by itself.