Vol. 244 No. 5
asked the Minister for Transport and Power when the report of the Dublin Port and Docks Board in relation to the further development of the port may be expected; what procedure will be followed when this report has been received; and if he can state approximately the date when the decision of the Government will be made known.
95.
asked the Minister for Transport and Power whether he has yet received from the Dublin Port and Docks Board their long-term plan for Dublin port; if not, when he expects to receive it; and how soon thereafter the enquiry into the plan will be established.
96.
asked the Minister for Transport and Power when he expects to receive the report of the Dublin Port and Docks Board on their long-term plans for the future of Dublin port; if the Government will examine the report as soon as it is received; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
With your permission a Cheann Comhairle, I propose taking Questions Nos. 94, 95 and 96 together.
I am informed by the Dublin Port and Docks Board that whilst considerable progress has been made in the preparation of the board's long term plan for the port, the plan is not now expected to be ready until about midsummer. The delay is due to the fact that the board has lost the services of one of its consultants.
When the plan is available it will be referred to the planning authority— Dublin Corporation— and as I assured the House yesterday it will be given the widest possible publicity so that the views of all interested parties may be obtained. When the views of the planning authority and of other interested parties are available they will be considered by me in consultation with the Minister for Local Government. The matter will then be submitted to the Government for any necessary decisions in the context of local, regional and national planning considerations.
Bearing in mind the necessity to ensure that everybody concerned is given adequate opportunity of stating their views in relation to the plan, it is not possible at this stage to indicate when the Government will be in a position to arrive at any necessary decisions in this regard.
I should like to point out that in this case the planning authority would not be the appropriate body to which to refer this matter because the planning authority would not have power over such matters as the construction of new ports.
That is only for a start. When the planning authority has considered it, it will come to me and then to the Minister for Local Government and then to the Government.
Could the Minister not arrange to get it first and have overall power over the whole scheme?
The important safeguard here is that the plan is being prepared by consultants employed by the port authority. It will then go to Dublin Corporation and then be published so that the public in general can have a full view of it. It will then come to me and to my colleague, the Minister for Local Government, and will then go to the Government. In that chain of communication and decisions I think the public can be assured that nothing will be done in any way to take from the amenities available both in the northern and southern parts of the city, or from the development of such amenities and facilities. I am personally very concerned about this and my colleagues are too.
In this case the local authority would not have the power to deal with this plan on its own, so why refer it to a body which is inhibited by its lack of powers?
The final decision will not reside with them. The final decision will reside with the Government.
Has the Minister considered commissioning this report himself? Does he not concede that it is rather extraordinary that the Dublin Port and Docks Board, which is not renowned for its efficiency or effectiveness generally, particularly at managerial level, should now lose its consultant, that the report should not be available until the summer, that then it goes to the planning section of the Dublin local authority, then to the Minister for Transport and Power, then to the Minister for Local Government, then to the Government and will then presumably be published and the interested parties consulted? Surely it is not beyond the bounds of bureaucratic competence for the Minister to simply commission the report himself?
This would seem to the Chair to be beyond the scope of this question.
The Dublin port will be in the throes of bureaucratic inefficiency in 1975.
The Chair can only deal with the questions.
I am not blaming the Chair.
The House has my assurance that this report, when it emerges from the consultants of the Dublin Port and Docks Board, will be given full publicity.
We will not get it until next summer and then Mr. Hegarty will go to the Canary Islands.
The Minister made it quite clear that this is a very meticulous process and is likely to be a prolonged one. He also said that there would be no development—either industrial or recreational—on either side until this whole process has been completed.
And I think, rightly so. This is a matter of great importance as far as the capital city is concerned and as far as the citizens of the city are concerned. It should be looked into in the fullest way, with everybody aware of what is involved. Our concern should be to ensure that any development takes full cognisance of the amenity and recreational aspects necessary and that, if there is to be industrial development, it will be such that will fit into an overall scheme of proper amenity development for the benefit of the citizens of the city. That should be our concern. That is why nobody will rush into this and why the fullest publicity will be given to it and the fullest consideration by the Government.
Except that one should not have to wait, in effect, two years to find out what the outline of Dublin port and the greater harbour area, industrially, commercially, recreationally——
Next May is not so far away.
It all started about three years ago.
Can the Minister say whether the report is broad enough to take account not only of the direct industrial needs but of the consequential needs for other facilities including housing in the area?
Of course.
The Chair would point out that the scope of these questions is confined to when the report will be available.
At any rate, we will have plenty of time to look into it in great detail and nothing will be rushed into.
