dún laoghaire harbour company

Harbour Company in marine leisure scheme for Irish Sea

A new EU backed Interreg programme worth €800,000 was launched recently which aims to form strategic alliances between Irish and Welsh marine leisure interests in a partnership led by the Irish Marine Federation.

The programme will develop marine leisure activities and facilities, organise joint promotional opportunities, and provide business development training for participating companies.

Also involved in the partnership are the Marine Institute, Venture Point (Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Enterprise Board), Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company, and the Irish Sailing Association.

Their Welsh counterparts are members of a new organisation called North Wales Watersports. A "brand name" will be created as part of the programme, and there will be co-operation between the Irish and Welsh groups in a number of activities. These will include industry strategy development, identification of sites for future development, marketing and promotion, and business and vocational skills training.

Educational programmes for schools to promote career paths, and sailing scholarships for inner-city children will also form part of the plan. The groups will work to promote marine tourism in the Irish Sea on the international market, and the programme also provides for environmental training for marina operators.

The Chairman of the Irish Marine Federation, Brian O'Sullivan believes the new programmme will provide an excellent opportunity to develop a business strategy for the entire Irish Sea region.

National Ports Policy

Marine Minister Pat the Cope Gallagher launched the Government's Ports Policy Statement in January this year. The Minister said that the policy statement aimed to better equip the port sector and its stakeholders in order to meet national and regional capacity and service needs through clearer and more focused commercial mandates for the ports and their

Boards.

Among the key points of the Policy Statement with particular relevance to Dún Laoghaire are:

• Current policy is to require the ports to operate commercially, without Exchequer support, and to provide adequate capacity for the future needs of the economy.
  
• Board members should have the appropriate mix of competencies and skills to contribute to advancing the business and corporate governance of the company. Local authority representation will be reduced to one, staff representation will be confined to one and user representation will cease. A panel of appropriately skilled potential Board member candidates will be established.
  
• The Minister envisages urgent consultation with ports and private sector providers on capacity needs and plans, and thereafter, identification of a small number of high quality projects aimed at providing the required capacity. Clearly, not all proposals are likely to proceed.
  
• Coordination with the Department of Transport will be intensified in order to ensure effective integration of transport policy across all modes.
  
• Competitive conditions are present within and between ports. The Minister will seek to ensure that future capacity constraints do not lead to dominant or monopolistic conditions.
  
• The Minister considers that there is an insufficient case for the extension of an economic regulator to the port sector. He intends, however, that disputes between port stakeholders and the port will be addressed to an arbitrator whose opinion will be binding.
  
• The Minister sees groupings and partnerships of ports as options to reduce costs, create synergies and improve marketing and critical mass. The Minister will expect and be supportive of any considered proposals from ports in this regard.
  
• The potential and strategic significance of the ports varies between one port and another. The Minister intends to maintain an open mind on privatisation of port ownership and will seek to maximise private sector involvement in the ports, including funding.
  
• The Minister is committed to ensuring that change at the policy/strategy level is designed, implemented and progressed in full consultation with relevant stakeholders. He intends to instruct ports to ensure that a forum exists within each port for local users to voice their views and concerns.