asked Her Majesty’s Government:
What proportion of the light dues payable by ships entering United Kingdom ports represents a subsidy to support the maintenance of lights in the Republic of Ireland.
My Lords, under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, the UK Government have a statutory responsibility to fund the Commissioners of Irish Lights, the general lighthouse authority that provides aids to navigation in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. In 2005-06, the general lighthouse fund paid £6.4 million, which is around 10 per cent of its total revenue, towards the provision of aids to navigation in the Republic of Ireland.
My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for that Answer, but given the Government’s commitment to a competitive shipping industry is it not a bit ironic that 10 per cent of the tax on ships entering UK ports goes to Irish ports? Do the Government believe that the same should apply also to French or German ports? Is it not ironic that, 80 years after independence, we are still subsidising the lights in the beautiful island of Ireland? Some 18 months ago in this House, on 28 November 2005, my noble friend said that the Government were starting “hard-nosed negotiations” to resolve the matter. Is it not more like treading on eggshells? Are not the Irish Government and the Irish ports laughing all the way to the bank?
No, my Lords. My noble friend will know that under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 the three general lighthouse authorities have responsibility for the provision and maintenance of aids to navigation around the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Yes, I said that we were entering hard-nosed negotiations and I hope that he will be encouraged by the fact that the result of those negotiations was that in February of this year a study was to be set up between the Department of Transport in the Republic of Ireland and our Department for Transport to examine the current funding system and to explore whether there can be a more equitable split in cost sharing between the UK and Ireland.
My Lords, I can go further back than the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley. In January 2003, Her Majesty’s Government said in response to the Transport Committee’s report on ports:
“We remain committed to renegotiating the current agreement to require the Republic of Ireland to meet the full costs of provision of their aids to navigation. We will continue to work closely with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Irish Government to achieve this objective”.
The noble Baroness now tells us that yet another inquiry was started in February. What has been happening for the past three and a half years?
My Lords, we are in constant touch with our colleagues in the Republic of Ireland on this. It is not a simple matter of black and white, shall we say?
Oh!
I can wax lyrical on this for a long time, my Lords, but I will not. We have here three ancient and long-established organisations—the lighthouse authorities for the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. They work extremely well together and they have huge cost savings through the efficiency of their work. The way in which they work is the way forward for the safety of seafarers around the waterways of the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
My Lords, will the noble Baroness reflect on the relationship between her department and the Republic of Ireland? I have received answers from her noble friend Lord Davies of Oldham about our relationship with the Republic with regard to lorries from there that constantly flout the laws on weight and drivers’ hours. I am constantly told that we are in touch with the Irish authorities, but nothing happens, the law is not observed and we in this country seem to get the bad end of the stick, whether on shipping or road transport.
My Lords, I was briefed on boats, not lorries, but I say to the noble Lord, Lord Bradshaw, that we expect to have results from the study within the next month—certainly by the end of 2007. It will be in two phases: one will gather information on the expenditure on aids to navigation, and the other will assess the options based on that evidence and make recommendations for the future.
My Lords, I declare an interest as an Elder Brother of Trinity House. Does the Minister not agree that the present integrated service run by the three general lighthouse authorities is working extremely well? If anything were to bring that co-operation to an end and the Republic of Ireland had to go its own way, the result would be ship owners paying higher light dues in Ireland to the detriment of Irish ports and, possibly, higher light dues in England, Scotland and Wales, because an extra ship might be needed to cover Northern Ireland.
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Greenway, has just outlined a little of the complexity of this issue. He is right. The burden of light dues on shipping has steadily fallen since 1993; it has fallen by 50 per cent. He is right about the efficiency gains of the three general lighthouse authorities. He talked about the Trinity House authority and the other two. The automation of lighthouses and centralised lighthouse monitoring are efficiency gains. A rather dramatic phrase is “the solarisation of all buoys”, which I am told is also an efficiency gain, as is the collocation of the CIL’s Dublin premises.
My Lords, I am afraid that we are at 15 minutes.
No!