Merchant Shipping (Light Dues) (Amendment) Regulations 2009

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, for initiating this debate on a Motion to resolve. I listened carefully to his words and I wish to intervene only briefly to support him. This is a most extraordinary state of affairs. As the noble Lord explained, it is a unique situation where a solemn promise was first given some years ago by Alastair Darling that this would be put right, and then subsequently by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State. I am glad that the noble Lord not only has a reputation as an expert on transport matters in general, particularly rail and rail freight, but also because he will frequently have a go at following things up. It is easy for Members of this House to be beset by too many matters and therefore to let things lie when there is no response. But this is a glaring anomaly and surely it must be put right. The Minister has an opportunity to begin to do so by making a few putative announcements of a change in these financial arrangements. I have not had time to do a 100 per cent, thorough research into this, but my own trawl—if that is the appropriate word in this context—of other EU member states with coastal areas shows that no other EU member state pays these dues on behalf of a neighbouring country. While we all understand the historical background for the arrangement, that is no excuse for it to continue in the future. Like many others, I warmly welcomed Ireland as a republic joining the EU in 1973, at the same time as we did, along with Denmark. Ireland was saved from deep poverty by becoming a member of the European Community as it then was because its income and capital were very low in those days. Shortly before joining, Ireland had taken the step of detaching itself from sterling and floating the Irish punt separately. That marked the first stage of its economic development. As a low income country, it received quite large amounts of European Community money. Ireland was extremely successful and became known as a tiger economy with a strong entrepreneurial reputation until, like the rest of us, it was beset by the economic and financial difficulties brought about by the global financial crisis of the last two years. None the less, despite that, Ireland is a prosperous country on any measurements. I am sure that, despite the fact that the Government in Dublin are being attacked severely for their budget deficit, which everyone says is too high, they will find what are modest resources in comparison with other demands on the Irish national exchequer and pay that which they owe. It is, as I say, a modest amount, and yet it would save the United Kingdom Exchequer much in terms of the various urgent necessities to put this matter right and to return to a zero deficit if at all possible. It is therefore very important for the Minister to respond properly to this brief debate and put the matter right.