Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are discussing this topic as a result of a request I made on the Order of Business last Thursday that we have a debate on the DLHC transfer in advance of the Minister signing the order, and I ask him to clarify whether he signed it today. No Member has a problem with his strategy. It is a good idea for harbour companies to come under the remit of a local authority as they might be well placed to manage them, albeit that they have plenty of other issues to manage.

I am concerned that up to today, there was not full sight of the exact goings on in the harbour company and the exact extent of its assets and liabilities. The Minister considers DLHC a company with a substantial asset, but it is only an asset if one can sell it off or one can do something with it. It is all very well saying that one has an asset. I am sure I have heard the Minister talk about constituents who are asset rich and cash poor, but there is an estimate of €33 million in liabilities, which some people might say is less but equally other people could argue that it is greater, relating to pensions and works that are needed in the harbour, which might be referred to as "taking in charge type standards". I am conscious that there are two other fellow former Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown councillors, Senators Richmond and Boyhan, in the House. Senator Boyhan has great expertise because he served two terms on the board of the harbour company as an appointed director. There was a time when the local authority had directors elected from the councillors. At the time that was the case, my party was small and Fine Gael and Labour shared the spoils of those positions and, as a result, I was never a member of the DLHC but I am familiar with its activities.

What will become clear to the 210,000 residents of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown is there is a €33 million liability in pensions and other infrastructural costs to be covered, in addition to an €800,000 annual maintenance cost. How is that to be absorbed without closing libraries and forgoing the repair of footpaths, improvements to traffic lights and the building of swimming pools, something that is close to the Minister's heart? I did not have full sight of the liabilities but the due diligence referred to a liability of €33 million. All these works will have to be paid for and if he has signed over a €33 million deficit in the company, which he says is an asset, is he suggesting that the county council should start selling off chunks of the harbour? He referred to using reserves or profits, selling assets, borrowing or attracting private investment. That is the antithesis of what some people who are championing the transfer of the harbour company into the ownership of the council wanted. They do not want privatisation or the sale of assets; they want people power and so on.As Minister for the marine, the Minister has ports included in his brief and, as a Deputy for Dublin Rathdown, his constituents are affected by this. The Minister was here last week, as he has been on many occasions. He had a relatively brief speech today. We have a curtailed amount of time because of the vote earlier. That is not the Minister's fault but I am conscious of the time. If we do not get a response today, we may need to come back and look at this issue again. I hope we will all be relatively brief and we will give the Minister enough time.

I implore the Minister to answer the following question. How is Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, other than by selling assets, which is what the Minister is arguing, or through private investment, to fund the €33 million without increasing property tax or cutting other services? That is the nub of the issue. There are ongoing maintenance costs. There are significant funding challenges. The Minister is not transferring Dublin Airport, which is profit-making, to Fingal but he is transferring a loss-making operation with very significant long-term issues and infrastructural challenges. It behoves the Minister to say to his constituents in Dublin Rathdown, but also to the constituents of the Dún Laoghaire constituency and all the people in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown who are paying their property tax, whether it will double or triple, or whether it will need to. The discretionary property tax in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown this year, after the property tax discount was given to the highest property taxpayers in the country, is €2.5 million. One is talking about 13 years worth of discretionary property tax being swallowed up by the €33 million and that is before one looks at the €800,000 a year maintenance cost.

I have probably given the Minister enough issues to which to respond. I have eight minutes and if I speak for eight minutes and Senator Boyhan and everyone else does the same-----