Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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41. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the timeline for the transfer of ownership of a company (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38852/16]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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National Ports Policy provides that the five designated Ports of Regional Significance (Drogheda, Dún Laoghaire, Galway, New Ross and Wicklow) will be transferred to more appropriate local authority led governance structures. These five ports retain important roles as facilitators of their regional economies and, in some instances, as centres of marine-related amenity and tourism activities. However, the scale and nature of these activities are not such as to warrant continued central Government involvement.

Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company is designated under the National Ports Policy for transfer to Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council. As the Deputy is aware, it was necessary to enact primary legislation, namely the Harbours Act 2015, to provide the legislative framework to allow for the transfer of the Ports of Regional Significance, to local authority control. The relevant legislation was enacted in December 2015.

The Act is not prescriptive in relation to the model of transfer for each port. It is designed to provide maximum legislative flexibility by providing two possible models 1) retention of the existing company structure and transfer of the Ministerial shareholding in the company to the local authority or 2) dissolution of existing company and transfer of all assets, liabilities and employees into local authority structures. 

The process of transferring governance of Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company to the Council is on-going. The future governance and operational structures of the port are primarily matters for agreement between the Council and the port company.

The decision on the model of transfer will be informed by a due diligence process, carried out by the local authority, with funding support from my Department.

The port and local authority are working together on due diligence which I understand is well advanced. When the due diligence is completed, I expect that progress will then be made towards finalising the model, the timeline and the preparations for transfer.