I am sorry that the last amendment was not accepted, but I hope that this one will be. The amendment which I move is to add a new section before Section 8 as follows:—"It is hereby enacted that if, owing to any cause, the provisions of Sections 5 and 6 of the Dublin Port and Docks Act, 1898, which provides for the election by the Corporation of the city of Dublin, acting by the Municipal Council, of six members of the Corporation to be members of the Board, are unfulfilled, the right to appoint six civic members of the Board shall be exercised by the members of the Dáil for the time being representing constituencies in the city and county of Dublin." The case is made on behalf of the Board or, to be quite fair, on behalf of people who have recently been on the Board, that the Board has been amended somewhat in recent years, and that a different attitude has been adopted in regard to certain complaints that were rife, and that the Board has been, to that extent, put in order.
As to the truth of that, I have no evidence to submit, but I do say that one of the factors affecting that result, if it has been the result, was the existence of civic representatives on the Board. By virtue of the provisions of the Act under which the Board is operating there were to be members of the Corporation representing the citizens acting on the Board. There being no Corporation now there are no civic members and therefore there is no element within the Board to represent the public of the city as distinct from traders and shipping members. It is said that there are schemes of financial consolidation afoot and that there are improvement schemes of one kind or another under consideration. That makes it all the more necessary why there should be on the Board representatives of the citizens as distinct from representatives of the interests.