The chief executive of Dun Laoghaire County Council has said she was "stunned" that the Government didn't offer any funding to cover the €38 million debts of the town's former harbour company.
Philomena Poole made the comments yesterday at a special meeting of the council that was convened to discuss the future of Dun Laoghaire Harbour.
The council took over control of the harbour last year but is faced with costs of €38m to bring it up to standard.
The council recently opened a tender process for expert advice on what to do with the harbour after a number of proposals were rejected.
The local authority's director of services, Therese Langan, told councillors that €10m in works needed to be undertaken immediately on health and safety grounds, including €1.6m to fix the East Pier, which was damaged during Storm Emma last year.
But the council had not been offered any funding from Government to deal with these legacy debts.
Ms Langan said: “No funding was provided in spite of the case being forcefully put as to the financial burden being placed on a single local authority."
Some councillors called for the return of ferry services to the harbour but Ms Langan said this was unlikely as she had already made several approaches to Stena and Irish Ferries without success.
She added that any future plan for the harbour would include development of a national water sports campus.
