I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time. The purpose of this Bill will be obvious to Deputies from the Title. It is to amend and extend certain provisions of the Harbours Act, 1946, and make provision for some additional matters which were raised when the 1946 Act was under discussion here. During the passage of the Harbours Act, 1946, I indicated to the Dáil that it was the intention of the Government to provide financial assistance where necessary for the development or restoration of harbour works, where there appeared to be a reasonable prospect of a revival of the trade of a harbour. Since then, applications for financial assistance have been received from 21 harbour authorities and grants amounting to £668,000 have been approved in 12 cases. There are other applications under consideration and as I anticipate that some Deputies may, in the course of the discussion on this Bill, raise the matter of delay in giving decisions upon outstanding applications, it might save time if I point out that the main cause of delay is that in most cases a survey must be carried out to determine the type and the cost of the works that are needed. The Board of Works organisation is used for the purpose of conducting such surveys and they have been doing their utmost to expedite the work, but they are handicapped at present by the difficulty of providing suitable engineers with experience of marine works.
However, one application which has been approved is the subject of a provision in this Bill. In the case of the Tralee and Fenit Harbour authority, the Government decided to make a grant of the full cost of providing a new viaduct and of widening the pier, works which are estimated to cost about £100,000. They made that offer to defray the cost of these works on the condition that the Kerry County Council would remit the debt of approximately the same amount due to them by the harbour authority. That debt arises out of a loan guaranteed to the harbour authority in 1882 by the predecessors of the county council. The loan had been raised originally for the purpose of constructing the pier and other works at Fenit. In making remission of a debt a condition for the grant, the Government had regard to the fact that the restoration of the harbour is important to the future development of the whole of County Kerry that a contribution from local authorities towards the cost of harbour works has been made a condition of a grant in other cases and that no port of the size of Fenit could be expected to prosper when burdened with such a heavy debt. The County Commissioner for Kerry agreed to wipe out the debt, but was advised by his legal advisers that Section 133 of the Harbours Act, 1946, which sets out the different ways in which a local authority may assist a harbour authority, does not authorise a local authority to remit such a debt. Section 6 of this Bill is intended to meet that difficulty and to clarify the position in regard to the grant of assistance by local authorities to harbour authorities.
The next matter to which the Bill refers arose after the harbour elections of 1946. It was found that certain schooners at Arklow harbour were owned by groups consisting of corporate bodies and individuals. The Act provided for the granting of voting rights in respect of vessels owned by individuals or by corporate bodies, but we overlooked the possibility of a vessel being owned jointly by individuals and corporate bodies. In the case of Arklow harbour, the returning officer, acting on legal advice, decided that he was unable to allow the owners of these schooners to take part in the elections, even though the vessels were registered in the State and the requisite amount had been paid in tonnage dues. I undertook to have this matter considered in conjunction with any amending harbour legislation. It is now proposed to substitute Section 2 of this Bill for sub-section (5) of Section 7 of the Harbours Act, 1946, so that the owners of all vessels registered in the State in respect of which the requisite tonnage rates have been paid may be able to take part in an election, either directly or through their resident manager. There is no departure in this from the principle adopted in the original Act.
Prior to the war tenders for liners calling at Cobh were provided by commercial firms. These firms were not in a position to restore tender services on the resumption of transatlantic liner traffic. On the representations of Cork Harbour Commissioners provision was made in the Harbours Act to enable harbour authorities to provide tenders. Cork Harbour Commissioners have been involved in heavy capital outlay in providing the present tender service.
With a view to offsetting some of the cost of providing this essential service they have now requested that they should be enabled to undertake other remunerative services with the tenders particularly excursions in the summer season when the vessels are not required for their main purpose. Similar services were provided by the commercial firms before the war and they were, I think, popular with Cork citizens and visitors to Cork. Section 4 of the Bill accordingly empowers a harbour authority to carry passengers for reward in vessels provided by them, subject to the approval of the arrangement by the Minister for Industry and Commerce. I think it is desirable to retain that requirement of Ministerial approval to ensure that the remunerative character of these excursion services may not induce a harbour authority to diminish in any way the adequacy of the tender services provided for liner traffic. Section 8 of the Bill brings the provisions for the granting of travelling and subsistence allowances to members of harbour authorities into line with the provisions of the Local Government Act, 1946. Deputies will remember that we aimed in all provisions of the Harbour Act relating to staff to maintain similarity with the local government legislation. Since the Act was passed, however, the local government practice in regard to travelling allowances to members of local authorities has been changed. We are effecting a corresponding change with regard to members of harbour authorities. Under Section 38 of the Harbours Act, 1946, vacancies for secretaries and technical officers employed by harbour authorities must be filled through the Local Appointments Commissioners. In the case of a number of the smaller harbours where the salaries attaching to the posts are small and the work is usually of a parttime nature there appears to be a case for exempting the appointments at such harbours, at any rate for the time being, from the local appointments machinery, in the same way as posts such as town clerks and clerks of pension committees have been exempted under local government legislation.
The Bill therefore provides that local appointments machinery will not apply to any offices at the harbours of Annagassan, Ballyshannon, Baltimore and Skibbereen, Buncrana, Dingle, Killybegs, Kilrush, Kinsale, New Ross, Westport, Wicklow and Youghal unless the Minister so declares. When the 1946 Act was under discussion I undertook to discuss with the Minister for Local Government as to whether arrangements could not be made to enable previous service with a local authority to be reckoned for pension purposes under a harbours superannuation scheme. As a result of these consultations it is proposed in this Bill that power should be taken to include in a harbour superannuation scheme arrangements for reckoning past service with a local authority. I understand that under the Local Government Superannuation Bill at present before the Dáil the Minister for Local Government proposes to include reciprocal provisions to deal with the cases of officers who retire from the service of a local authority having had previous service with a harbour authority.
An annual payment of £369 4s. 8d. is made by the Cork Harbour Commissioners to the Cork Corporation under an agreement executed under the Cork Harbour Act, 1820. Under that Act the corporation had abandoned rights which they claim to have had to levy dues and tolls on certain vessels entering the harbour. During the passage of the 1946 Act the Cork Harbour Commissioners pressed that they should be relieved of that payment which was among the old levies which the Harbours Tribunal had recommended should be abolished. The Cork Corporation and the harbour authority have been in negotiation in the matter but have so far failed to reach agreement. Section 9 of the Bill provides that the annual payment shall be discontinued and that compensation in lieu of the payment should be paid by the Cork Harbour Commissioners to the corporation.
Failing agreement as to the amount of compensation the matter will be resolved by an arbitrator to be appointed by the Chief Justice. These are the changes in the Harbour Act which this Bill proposes to make. Deputies will remember that in connection with the Harbours Act arrangements were made for consultation with affected interests and, as a result of that consultation, the Bill was substantially altered. I think the justification for that method is to be found in the fact that with experience in the operation of that complicated measure only these few changes are required in the provisions of that Act. I think I can state in respect of all the matters to which this Bill relates and upon which disagreement might have been feared, such disagreement does not exist.