I move:—
"That it is expedient that a tribunal be established for inquiring into a definite matter of urgent public importance, that is to say, the present position of the several ports and harbours in Saorstát Eireann specified in the Schedule to this Resolution, with special reference to:—
(a) the constitution, powers and methods of administration of the authorities controlling or managing such ports and harbours;
(b) the charging powers, financial position and resources of such authorities;
(c) the facilities provided for trade and commerce in such ports and harbours, and the extent to which such trade and commerce is conducted in shipping owned in Saorstát Eireann;
(d) the present statute law relating to such ports and harbours and any changes therein of a general or a particular nature which appear necessary or desirable in order to promote the trade or commerce of Saorstát Eireann.
SCHEDULE.
List of Harbour Undertakings.
Annagassan Pier, Arklow Harbour, Ballyshannon Harbour, Baltimore and Skibbereen Harbour, Cork Harbour, Dingle Harbour, Drogheda Harbour, Dublin Port and Docks (including Balbriggan and Skerries Harbours), Dundalk Harbour, Foynes Harbour, Galway Harbour, Killybegs Port and Harbour, Kilrush Harbour, Kinsale Harbour, Limerick Harbour, Moy River Commission (Ballina), New Ross Port and Harbour, Sligo Harbour, Tralee and Fenit Port and Harbour, Waterford Harbour, Wexford Harbour, West-port Harbour, Wicklow Harbour, Youghal Harbour.
The motion on which I am speaking is one connected with the harbours of Ireland. I do not know whether the Seanad have carefully read it. I shall take for granted that the members of the Seanad have read the proposal for establishing this tribunal. Might I say I think it is a great pity that under our Standing Orders a Minister cannot bring a matter of this sort before the House by himself. In the last two cases Senator Douglas and myself took on ourselves duties which would be better performed by the Minister, who could explain in the first case the motion to the Seanad. At present the Standing Orders of the House prevent that being done. Therefore, a Senator has to take up the matter and speak on it secondhand. I should like to have it on record, if at all possible, that it should be seriously considered whether some arrangement could be made whereby the Minister could take up those matters in the Seanad. In this case, after going carefully into it, I endorse the motion that a tribunal should be established to inquire into the conditions of the statutory harbours in the Free State. You know very well that there are great differences between these harbours, and we know that some of them in the country are extremely hard up.
I am inclined to think that in view of their condition and their usefulness compared with the amount of money it is possible for them to get, that a great deal of public good will be done. Then there are others such as the Port and Docks Board in Dublin, where a huge board, representing various interests, manages the affairs of the port. Connected with the Chamber of Commerce, I had a great deal to do with the evidence given before a Committee of the House of Lords long ago, when the present Port and Docks Board was established. At the time we thought it was the right way of doing it. A long time has elapsed since then, and I think a good many are very doubtful whether the solution arrived at was the best. Any of us can see that a huge body of people representing different interests might not be the best way of managing the Port of Dublin.
I read Deputy Hewat's remarks in the Dáil. His great fear seemed to be that such an inquiry as this would interfere with the credit of the Port and Docks Board in issuing their bonds and raising capital where they needed it. In business we all know that the Port and Docks Board bonds are sound and good things to invest in. The management of the port in that way is looked on as perfectly sound, and I cannot see how any inquiry of this sort is going to interfere with the money that is going to be made in the port of Dublin. We might see some methods of administration that might be improved, and we might see that public facilities which might go towards the good of the State, might be introduced. The criticisms of the proposed tribunal in the Dáil really were not of any weight. More or less the gentlemen who spoke approved of it, but the most they could say of it was that they did not think it was needed. I think most of us who live in Ireland think it is needed. It really is only part of the great inquiry which must eventually take place as to the methods of transport in the Irish Free State. It is no good trying to put up a tribunal at present to inquire into the whole of the transport problem in the Irish Free State. There are far too many compartments that have to be inquired into. We know the railway problem is under very fierce criticism and is being gradually watched and looked into and lessons are being learned. The same applies to the rates. Now we come on to the harbours. No tribunal could at the present deal with the transport problem in Ireland till they had a report on the harbours, and the first thing they would have to do is to appoint a committee to deal with those harbours. I think the Government are right in trying to have this tribunal put into being and to come to a decision as to what is the state of the harbours, inasmuch as the tribunal then will have sound evidence to go on as far as the harbours are concerned. The question of the personnel of the tribunal is, of course, extremely important, and I have no doubt whatever that the Government will try to get perfectly impartial, prudent, intelligent individuals to sit on that tribunal, whose verdict, when they give it, and their recommendations when they make them, will be available to those who come after them. I do not think there is anything more I can say on the general subject. If any member of the Seanad cares to ask any questions, the Minister is here and can answer them.
