Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 22 Jun 1999

Vol. 506 No. 5

Written Answers. - Infrastructural Deficit.

Bernard Allen

Ceist:

98 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources the steps, if any, being taken to deal with Ireland's infrastructural deficit; and the safeguards, if any, being taken to ensure lowest possible access costs. [15714/99]

Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources (Dr. Woods)

While investment in ports has greatly improved the capacity and quality of port infrastructure and facilities, the level of growth in Ireland's international trade and in port activity generally underlines the need for continued investment. Almost 93 per cent of trade by volume and 84 per cent by value is transported through Ireland's ports each year. The returns from the top 20 ports for 1998 show that seaborne trade is at an all time high. Ports cargo throughput in 1998 increased by some 9.2 per cent from 36.66 million tonnes to a record level of 40.05 million tonnes and passenger numbers increased by almost 6 per cent over 1997 to 4.65 million.

The Government's An Action Programme for the Millennium recognises that "the necessary infrastructure to handle ever increasing volumes of tourism and trade has to be underpinned by continuing investment and the maintenance of competitiveness". The key policy objective of my Department in relation to the ports sector is to support and facilitate the availability of efficient and competitive port services.

This policy objective has been given tangible expression through the transformation of the Irish State commercial seaports in the context of the implementation of the Harbours Act, 1996. Under the Act, nine of the key commercial seaports which handle over 93 per cent of national seaborne trade – Cork, Drogheda, Dublin, Dun Laoghaire, Foynes, Galway, New Ross, Shannon Estuary and Waterford – have been corporatised as fully fledged commercial State companies.

The port companies are statutorily responsible for the management, control, direction and development of the harbours as commercial operations. Freeing up the ports from direct State control gave them the commercial freedom needed to operate in a competitive environment as a modern, customer oriented service industry, while enhancing accountability for operation and financial performance.

There has been significant development in maritime infrastructural works at the commercial seaports with the assistance of EU funding. Co- financing of infrastructural development at the ports comes through my Department, from the EU via the Operational Programme for Transport 1994-1999, the Ireland/Wales Maritime INTERREG Community Initiative and the Cohesion Fund. On completion of the current programme of modernisation and infrastructural development at our key seaports some £163 million will have been invested in new and upgraded infrastructure and access improvements. The development and modernisation of the ports industry could not have been achieved without grant assistance under these programmes. The scale of the various funding programmes reflected the low level of investment in the ports industry generally before the programmes were put in place.

I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the aim, enshrined in the community support framework 1994-1999 and Partnership 2000, of reducing port/shipping costs by at least 15 per cent in real terms over the duration of the programme had been effectively achieved by 1998.

Notwithstanding these past achievements, there still remain a number of important deficiencies to be addressed in the ports industry; ports have inadequate facilities to cope with continued massive growth which is forecast in the unitised modes in particular; competitive forces between ports need to be continually strengthened. Continued reductions in port costs will maximise competition between ports; scope exists to increase port efficiency levels to maximise the use of existing infrastructure; our ports need to continue to reduce cost levels to the lowest levels achieved in the best ports internationally; there is scope for further rationalisation of the port sector through, for example, co-operation agreements between adjacent State ports to maximise services and cost efficiencies to port users.

Based on the examination of the port industry's importance to the economy and of its development needs over the period to 2007, as determined in a detailed study on future seaport capacity requirements by independent consultants, it is clear that a third national port development programme is required as part of the next national development plan. In preparation of the next NDP for post-1999 Structural Fund allocations my Department consulted fully with all the port companies and harbour authorities requesting that they identify proposals for investment priorities for the NDP.

Following this comprehensive consultation process, port and maritime infrastructural development projects have been identified and costed in the context of possible funding allocations under the next round of EU Structural Funding post-1999.

The challenge now is to secure necessary investment support to consolidate development of the seaports in line with economic growth and the rise in seaborne trade.