asked the Minister for the Marine if in view of his response to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 74 and 75 of 24 November 1987 he intends to exercise his powers, under the Harbours Act, 1946, to make regulations in respect of the procedure and business of harbour authorities; and when this will be carried out.

30.

asked the Minister for the Marine if, in view of his reply to Parliamentary Question No. 20 of 24 November 1987 he has in fact contacted all the harbour authorities around the country regarding existing standing orders; if he has satisfied himself that these orders are appropriate; and if he intends, after almost one year's deliberations to introduce new regulations.

I propose to take Question No. 6 and Priority Question No. 30 together.

I have contacted the 14 harbour authorities which handle virtually all of the commercial traffic passing through harbours governed by the Harbours Act, 1946. Eight of these have standing orders governing their procedures.

I am not satisfied that those standing orders are adequate in all cases and I have decided that the best approach would be to make provision similar to section 12 (9) of the Harbours (Shannon Estuary Development Corporation) Bill, 1988, in a new harbours Bill, following review of the existing legislation which I hope to arrange as soon as possible.

In the meantime, I am asking harbour authorities to strengthen their standing orders to meet the situation.

Arising from the Minister's reply can he state when he contacted the 14 harbour authorities and when he made the request to them to strengthen their existing arrangements?

I do not have the exact date here as to when this request was made. The request has been made by me and I pointed out to the harbour authorities that I felt the situation was unsatisfactory. I am aware that at least one harbour authority has the provision which we feel it is necessary to have.

Could I impress on the Minister the urgency of this matter having regard to the comments of a High Court judge over 12 months ago. He was making a judgment on a case before him at that time in which he was highly critical of the way certain members of a certain harbour authority exercised their powers contrary to the common good.

As I have said, I indicated to the harbour authorities—in fact to the 14 authorities — where the main traffic is carried out——

Has the Minister got assurances from these harbour authorities?

In the revision of the Harbours Acts which I propose to undertake the provision will be written in by legislation to ensure that this never happens.

How soon will that be?

As soon as it will be possible to review the Harbour Acts which are detailed and specific and long overdue for an overhaul. It is something that we are giving priority to in the Department