Public Consultation: Howth Fishery Harbour Centre Passenger Vessel Licence Policy

Topic

Howth Fishery Harbour Centre Passenger Vessel Licence Policy

Target Audience

All interested parties, including citizens, private organisations, public authorities, and academic institutions are welcome to contribute to this consultation.

The number of licences issued by the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine has remained unchanged for many years. Some existing licence holders have expressed an interest in acquiring additional licences, while other vessel owners have shown an interest in operating from the harbour. There is a facility for vessel owners to apply to operate a passenger service from a Fishery Harbour Centre but there is no policy to guide how to manage the current licences, or how to award additional licences.

A review has been undertaken by harbour management on the capacity of the passenger pontoon at Howth FHC and the nature of potential additional activity it could accommodate. The review indicates that there is scope for a small increase in the number of passenger vessel licences that are currently in place.

The next step in the process towards developing a policy is to hold a public consultation with interested parties and members of the public.

Objective

Views are sought from stakeholders on the following areas:

1. Renewal of existing licences

2. Issue additional licences

3. Timeslots & Scheduling

4. Changes to Vessel Sizes

5. Change of Ownership

6. Operation of Single-entry Vessels

Open now until Friday 16th September 2022

Please note that we cannot take account of replies received after the deadline.

The consultation can be accessed by downloading this document: Public Consultation Passenger Vessel Licences Howth 2022

Stakeholders may make a submission by downloading the consultation questionnaire and either emailing or by posting the completed questionnaire to the following addresses:

Questionnaires may also be submitted by hand to the Harbour Master’s Office at any of the Fishery Harbour Centres in Howth, Dunmore East, Castletownbere, An Daingean, Ros an Mhíl, and Killybegs.

Freedom of Information

All submissions and comments submitted to the Department for this purpose are subject to release under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2014 and the European Communities (Access to Information on the Environment) Regulations 2007- 2014. Submissions are also subject to Data Protection legislation. Personal, confidential or commercially sensitive information should not be included in your submission and it will be presumed that all information contained in your submission is releasable under the Freedom of Information Act 2014.

Data Protection

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is collecting data for the consultation on the future allocation and management of passenger vessel licences at Howth Fishery Harbour Centre. The data will be processed in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR EU 2016/679), the Data Protection Acts 1988-2018, the Freedom of Information Act 2014 and the DPER Consultation Principles and Guidance. Any additional personal data received as part of your submission will not be processed, shared, or retained and will be destroyed upon receipt.

Further information on Data Protection can be found here.

Privacy Notice

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy and employs appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information from unauthorised access. The Department will not process your personal data for any purpose other than that for which they were collected. Personal data may be exchanged with other Government Departments, local authorities, agencies under the aegis of the Department, or other public bodies, in certain circumstances where this is provided for by law.

The Department will only retain your personal data for as long as it is necessary for the purposes for which they were collected and subsequently processed. When the business need to retain this information has expired, it will be examined with a view to destroying the personal data as soon as possible, and in line with Department policy.

https://www.gov.ie/en/collection/be6db-data-protection-privacy-notices/