Harbour chief resigns after one year

CAPTAIN FRANK Allen has resigned as harbour master of the State-owned Dún Laoghaire port company after one year in the job.

Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company confirmed yesterday that Capt Allen left the company at the end of June, 12 months after his appointment.

Part of Capt Allen’s brief had been to help revive the harbour’s fortunes and he was to play a role in attracting cruise liners to Dún Laoghaire.

Any effort to attract cruise business to Dún Laoghaire would put it in direct competition with the nearby and much larger Dublin Port, which also sees liners as a potential growth area.

Dún Laoghaire’s main source of income is the Stena Line ferry service to Holyhead, a source that revenues have fallen from recently. The company’s 2010 accounts show that it was due to negotiate a new contract with the shipping line last year.

The business made pre-tax profits of €1.36 million in 2010.

The company also has plans to develop a museum of emigration from Ireland at the Carlysle Pier.

Harbour master is a statutory role which all port companies are obliged to fill.

One of its main functions is to run the harbour’s police force.

Capt Simon Coates took over as acting master in Dún Laoghaire following Capt Allen’s departure last week.

Capt Allen is originally from Cork. He joined Dún Laoghaire from Dundalk, where he had been chief executive and harbour master.

Shortly after his departure from the Co Louth port last year, the Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar, criticised the State company’s poor pension provisions.

Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company also found itself at the centre of a row with the Government last year when it emerged that the company handed over €40,000 to pay for flights from Dubai for one of its directors, Gerry Nagle, who was living in the Middle Eastern country.

Mr Varadkar ordered Mr Nagle to repay the money.