Madam, - Peter Molloy's interesting suggestion (August 1st) that the redevelopment of the public baths in Dun Laoghaire should be funded from the profits of Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company unfortunately ignores the commercial realities which the harbour company has to deal with every day.
His conclusion that the company is highly profitable is based on his analysis of its published annual accounts for 2002, which show a profit after tax for the year of €2.5 million. The harbour company's after-tax profit in 2005 was €2.7 million - a growth rate which has failed to keep pace with inflation in the intervening period. There is one very obvious reason for this: the decline in passenger numbers through the ferry terminal. In 2002 ferry passenger numbers amounted to 1,015,000; in 2005 the figure was 851,000.
Over the same period the company has had to deal with the rising cost of maintaining and repairing the harbour. The recent refurbishment of the lower level of the East Pier, for example, cost about €3 million. Work which is about to begin on repairs to the structures of both the East and West Piers will cost more than €10 million. The harbour company spends about €3 million a year on the conservation of the historic harbour as a public facility to be enjoyed by this and future generations - and it is committed to doing so for the foreseeable future without recourse to the taxpayer.
As we are a state commercial company which receives no funding from the State, we have to rely on our profits to generate the funds necessary to carry out this work.
This is why the company is pursuing new sources of revenue. The marina and the Crofton Road development are two very obvious examples of this. We expect the redevelopment of Carlisle Pier to be another. The company cannot contemplate the redevelopment of the pier without the realistic expectation that it will generate a reasonable profit.
Unfortunately, the Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company is not now and is unlikely, for the foreseeable future, to be able to contribute from its profits to the redevelopment of the public baths by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council. However, the company does contribute €700,000 a year in commercial rates to the council. In addition, it contributes about €1 million a year to the State in corporation tax and VAT. Both figures are likely to grow substantially when Carlisle Pier is redeveloped.
This company already makes a substantial and growing financial contribution to the Exchequer and the county council. If the recipients of those contributions were to direct them towards the redevelopment of the public baths, most reasonable people would see this as a sensible and appropriate use of funds generated by Dun Laoghaire's waterfront. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL HANAHOE, Chief Executive, Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company, Adelaide Street, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.