Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 4 February 2015
176. Deputy John Lyons asked 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]
View answerIt 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 se with 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.
