Averil Power (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Hayes, to the House. I tabled this matter to highlight the need for a proactive strategy for Howth Harbour. The harbour is massively under-utilised from the point of view of fishing, marine leisure activity and the broader tourism industry.

In 2009 the Minister of State's Department commissioned a report specifically on the fishery aspect of the harbour; it was a report covering a business plan for the development of the fishery harbour centres. That report set out many areas where Howth Harbour could be further developed but, unfortunately, most of what was suggested has not happened. I urge the Minister of State in his new role to put an emphasis on the development of our fishery harbours.

A local business contacted me about the obstacles it is facing in setting up a repair facility at the harbour. One of the areas identified as an area of potential development in the 2009 report is that of repair facilities. It is stated numerous times in the report that there is a need to enhance and develop the repair facilities in Howth Harbour and this has also been highlighted by other independent reports commissioned by the Minister of State's Department.

The majority of the work carried out in Howth is done by foreign companies operating from Kilkeel, County Down. If vessels require anything more than very minor repairs, they usually travel to Kilkeel because they cannot get them done in Howth. The State loses revenue every time this happens and it makes no sense.

A company called Fleet Marine based in Howth goes on site in the harbour in vans to carry out minor maintenance work, but cannot do bigger jobs because it has no workshop in the harbour. There is demand for it. Howth Yacht Club wants these facilities, as do other people with boats based in the harbour. They do not want to have to go to County Down; they want to do it in Howth. Fleet Marine has put a number of proposals before the Department and has been contacting the Department for at least a year. Although it has identified suitable empty facilities, it has come to nothing. Could the Minister of State investigate this? It is a major loss of potential business for the area. It is disadvantageous from a fishing and from a marine leisure point of view not to have proper services on site. It puts people off coming to Howth.

Howth Harbour is an amazing facility. Although it is one of the most beautiful parts of the country with a beautiful harbour, fine restaurants and a great tourism service, the harbour area is underutilised. In places on the Continent that have half of what we have, the water is full all the time. They hold festivals, have maritime museums in France and make the most of their facilities from a tourism, community and leisure point of view. Local community groups and Howth Yacht Club have done amazing work in attracting major events such as the Etchells World Championship. Howth is Magic is a business group that puts together festivals such as the Dublin Bay Prawn Festival. However, such groups constantly tell me that every time they want to hold an event, the red tape is ridiculous and it puts people off holding events. Howth is Magic must go through a laborious process of sending in the same information it sent in for the previous year’s festival and not knowing whether it will get approval. From the point of view of a tourism calendar, such events need to be confirmed months, if not a year, in advance. If one is going to promote an event internationally, one needs certainty and does not need to be arguing with local authorities, marine officials or anyone else two or three weeks before it, wondering whether one will get permission. There is a desperate need for a broader strategy that sets out the type of events, whether fishing, marine or leisure, that should be provided in Howth and gives people a framework within which they can work. If one is running the same festival as last year, one should not have to resubmit the same traffic management and health and safety plans that worked last year. It should be more straightforward once it is within an agreed framework.

I ask the Minister of State to take this on as a priority. I encourage him to visit Howth. I live a couple of miles down the road and will bring him out any day to meet the business people and see the potential that exists. It is an area where the Minister of State could make a mark if he put a positive impetus behind it. It would do wonders for both leisure and employment in the area. I hope the Minister of State will give it his attention.

Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising this very important issue. Howth Fishery Harbour Centre is one of the six designated fishery harbour centres, which are owned, managed and maintained by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. All six fishery harbour centres are first and foremost working fishery harbours. However, each centre has unique features which facilitate a broad range of other diverse activities, including the ones the Senator outlined, which are important from both an economic and social perspective. The Department is conscious of the importance of both fishing and non-fishing activities at the harbours and endeavours to facilitate and develop both. This involves day to day operational support by harbour staff and management and development and repair of infrastructure, subject to available financial resources.

Howth Fishery Harbour Centre is no exception to this diversity. In addition to fishing, there is a wide range of recreational users of the harbour, including the yacht club, sport fishermen, walkers, tourists and other social users. There are a significant number of businesses, especially restaurants, operating in the harbour centre. Notwithstanding the prevailing economic environment in which we operate, I am happy to be able to advise that in excess of €3.2 million has been invested in maintenance, development and upgrading works at Howth as part of the Department's fishery harbour and coastal infrastructure development programme from 2011 to 2013. This investment will result in a significant improvement in the traffic management system, the access available to persons of reduced mobility and the electrical infrastructure available. It will, in addition, serve to act as a catalyst for the enhancement of facilities available to the marine leisure and tourism sector, boat repair facilities and business generally in the harbour.

The Minister, Deputy Coveney, approved funding of €1.18 million in March 2014 for the maintenance and development of Howth Fishery Harbour Centre. Major works for 2014 include the continued upgrading of the electrical system. The development and upkeep of Howth as a state of the art fishery harbour centre supporting a broad range of marine related and other activities is, and will remain, an ongoing process. Any suggestions from fishery harbour users for the development and improvement of the facilities at Howth will, as has been the case, be given due consideration. The Burke-Mclver report was commissioned some years ago to provide a roadmap for future development of the harbours. All the recommendations in the report that were implementable in the prevailing economic climate were subsequently introduced.

The Senator raised the issue of working with the stakeholders. We are already doing this and have been doing it for some time. My Department has established a harbour users forum for Howth. The forum is a broadly based initiative which is open to all stakeholders to participate in. It met most recently in January this year and will, I expect, meet again very early in the new year. This forum, like similar fora in each of the harbours, provides an excellent platform for sharing ideas and obtaining stakeholder feedback, which ultimately helps inform decisions on the future developments in the harbour. In addition, the Department's officials are available to meet harbour users collectively or individually as the need arises.

As I have said, Howth Fishery Harbour Centre is first and foremost a working fishery harbour. The Department is conscious that it is also a very important tourist destination in addition to being a major venue for leisure activities. With that in mind, the Department is anxious to increase the profile of the harbour for the betterment of the wider community in line with the Senator's request. To this end, the harbour regularly approves applications for events, yacht races, local celebrations and various functions within the harbour precincts. For example, in July 2014, the Asgard centennial celebrations were held at Howth Harbour, with the keynote address delivered by President Higgins. It is estimated that this event alone attracted in excess of 25,000 visitors to the harbour. In addition, the Department approved locating the Howth tourism information office within the confines of Howth Fishery Harbour Centre. This facility opened in July this year.

Balancing the needs of the fishing industry with those of the wider range of harbour users while delivering on a public service remit will be foremost when considering future developments in the harbour. Any new developments will be done on the basis of available Exchequer funding and competing national priorities. I assure the Senator that the Minister, Deputy Coveney, is fully aware of the situation, wants to help and will. I can pass on the Senator's invitation to visit the area to the Minister and I know he will do it because he is very favourably disposed towards everything that is happening in Howth.

Marie Moloney (Labour)
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I welcome the students of Calasanctius College, Oranmore, to the Visitors Gallery. The group includes the daughter of one of our Members. They are all very welcome and I hope they enjoy their tour. Does the Senator have a supplementary question?

Averil Power (Fianna Fail)
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If the Acting Chairman is finished embarrassing people in the Visitors Gallery. I thank the Minister of State for his response. He referred to the tourist kiosk, which typifies everything that is wrong and the point I am trying to make.

The tourist kiosk is an 8 ft. by 8 ft. prefabricated container. Fingal County Council wanted to install this temporary building at the front of the harbour because the previous tourist office was way down at the bottom and tourists did not see it when they came out of the DART station. Even though there was tonnes of space at the front of the harbour where this could be temporarily located, it took months to get approval from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. There was all kinds of wrangling. Council officials were pulling their hair out because they were paying for all of the works. They had the building and they were paying for the works, but they could not get approval from the Department to go ahead and do the works. We had missed much of the start of the tourism season by the time the approval was finally put in place, which is typical. Letters were going back and forth from the Chief State Solicitor. I do not know what the cost of all of the stuff that was going on was., but it certainly cost more than the cost of the 8 ft. by 8 ft. container. The whole thing was just ridiculous.

The Minister of State referred to the user forum, which I accept is in place. The reality on the ground, however, is that people do not consider the Department to be very co-operative in terms of being proactive and wanting to do new things in Howth. That is the difficulty. It is a real problem. If the Minister of State or the Minister, Deputy Coveney, were to consult any of the interested groups in Howth - I ask them to do so - they would get the same message. The same thing happened in the case of the sea scouts. The Department wanted to rack up their rent massively, which would have pushed them out of their current facility. We had to argue over that for the best part of a year, just as we did in the case of the kiosk. Everything seems to involve a row.

I accept the point the Minister of State made about the various events that have taken place in Howth. The Asgard celebration was fantastic, as are the other festivals we have locally. I know from the groups that organise these events every year that they endure a crazy degree of hassle to get approval. I am talking about people who volunteer their own time in addition to running their own businesses locally. It seems to them that the whole process is designed to discourage people from doing things. There is a lack of productivity. I think there is incredible potential there. I ask the Minister of State to convey this message to the Minister, Deputy Coveney. There is goodwill on the ground from local businesses, community groups and clubs like the yacht club.

I would like to mention another issue that shows how small the thinking is. I understand the proposal the Department made with regard to paid parking has been parked, to use an unfortunate phrase. The proposal to introduce paid parking in the harbour would not have covered its costs.

Marie Moloney (Labour)
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This is a very long supplementary question.

Averil Power (Fianna Fail)
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It would have lost money. It was actually a really negative thing. There was no proper consultation in that case. The whole framework for how the harbour is managed needs to change. I hope the Minister of State will take this up with the Minister, Deputy Coveney.

Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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It should never be the thrust of the Department to stop people from undertaking development. There are always reasons. I do not know the reasons in this case. I will have a chat with the officials. It is a two-way process. As public representatives, people often come to us to complain about how long the public service is taking to do something. There are always procedures to be followed. If the procedures are not being followed, that is a different issue. I would not like to stand over a situation in which locals are frustrated. In most instances, they are voluntarily trying to do good things to help the community, to boost employment creation and develop the tourism industry in their local areas. I will talk to the Minister, Deputy Coveney, about this matter before responding to the Senator. If what she says is true, I think we need to address the issue. I am not saying anything for definite. We will discuss it with the officials and see what the situation is.

Averil Power (Fianna Fail)
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