asked the Minister for Transport and Power, if in relation to a recent reply on the establishment of a harbour authority and the charging of port and tonnage dues at Whiddy Island, he is aware that payment is exacted from shipping companies for the use of Irish territorial waters and anchoring therein even when no man-made unloading facilities are provided and no improvement of the anchorage has been carried out by the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Use of Territorial Waters.
82.
Under international usage no payment may be exacted from shipping for the use of territorial waters and anchoring therein except in consideration of special services rendered.
This right does not apply to internal waters which include bays and natural inlets of the sea such as Bantry Bay. Under the Maritime Jurisdiction Act, 1959, however, the right of innocent passage for foreign ships in those areas of our inland waters which had previously been considered part of the territorial seas or of the high seas is preserved.
Harbour authorities are authorised by legislation to levy rates on ships using their harbours including anchoring therein. There is no other provision for the raising of a charge in respect of public inland waters. There is no harbour authority established by law for Bantry Bay and the reasons why no such authority is necessary there at present have been given by me at length in reply to previous questions.
Why has no harbour authority been established in Bantry?
I suggest that does not arise, and as I said in the last sentence of the reply, the reason for this has been gone into pretty extensively by the Minister for Transport and Power.
It is a separate question.
Not the reason, the excuse.
The reason. It has already been given on a number of occasions.