John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour)
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175. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport further to Parliamentary Question No. 1129 of 4 November, 2014 details of the further spending made by the Drogheda Port Company on the Bremore project since publication of accounts in December 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5046/15]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Further to my answer to the Deputy of 4 November 2014, the position in relation to the Bremore project remains the same.

Drogheda Port Company’s 2013 accounts are publicly available and provide a figure for capitalised expenditure on investment in the Bremore project. The port have confirmed that in 2013 expenditure of approximately €9,000 was incurred in addressing legacy administrative issues in relation to the project.  The audited accounts for 2014 are not yet available. Expenditure incurred by the company on any project is a matter for the Board.

Since the publication of the National Ports Policy 2013, which specifies that large scale infrastructure projects will be led by ports of national significance, no further investment has been made by Drogheda in this regard.

John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour)
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176. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if the Drogheda Port Company acted outside its geographical limits, as laid out in the Harbour Acts, through expenditure on Bremore project over several years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5047/15]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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It is a statutory objective of each port company, inter alia,  to take all proper measures for the development of its harbour, to promote investment in its harbour and to engage in any business activity either alone or with others, to develop its harbour. The Bremore proposal emerged from Drogheda Port Company's consideration of its statutory remit. There is no issue per sewith the fact that the physical location of what was the Bremore proposal lay outside the statutory harbour limits of Drogheda Port Company. The Company spent a number of years engaged in the necessary feasibility and planning work which one would expect of a project of this scale.

However, in the intervening years since this proposal was first mooted, the economic and policy perspective has changed significantly. It is important that, in the State commercial ports sector, bodies bringing forward significant port capacity developments have the resources required to ensure the State’s and the public’s interest is protected and enhanced. National Ports Policy, published in 2013, outlines the Government’s position that nationally significant port infrastructure projects should be led by the Ports of National Significance (Tier 1 and Tier 2) and that shareholder support for major port capacity developments will only be considered within that policy framework.