Sailing ColumnThe fact leisure-craft berths need to triple in Dún Laoghaire to cater for demand is obvious to sailors, but Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company is one of few state companies to see the leisure potential in our waters.
It is to publish a consultants' report in two weeks' time that proposes a second marina in the harbour, boosting berths there to 2,500 with a view to the next 20 years.
If the report were acted upon the single port of Dún Laoghaire would contain three-quarters of Ireland's marina berths.
It is a success story in an otherwise sorry tale of Government neglect around the coast.
A single marina in La Rochelle, France, has the same capacity as our entire island. There are more berths in North Wales than here.
Living in Ireland, you are less likely than almost all your fellow Europeans to own a boat. One Irish person in 172 owns a boat - the European average is one in 46.
Up and down our coasts, slipways for watersports and marinas for large craft are full to capacity, in private hands, in disrepair or nonexistent.
But this is not an overture on behalf of millionaires looking for somewhere to park their yachts; there is an economic argument that Ireland's lack of marine infrastructure is costing us all.
The marine-leisure sector is capable of growing by around 30 per cent over the next three years - if the Government and local authorities decide to unlock the potential that lies on the coast.
In the major sailing centres on Dublin Bay and Cork Harbour - representing some 3,000 craft - all five marinas are full to capacity.
Even with its recent expansion to 820 berths, Dún Laoghaire's marina - the country's largest - will be full this time next year, and it is for this reason the commodores of the four yacht clubs cautiously welcomed the study last week.
The clubs understand that in building Dún Laoghaire's international reputation as the "Cowes of the Irish Sea", future capacity for growth is essential.
Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company is a commercial company and its interest in marine leisure is for profit. The first marina in Dún Laoghaire was some 20 years in gestation before becoming an overnight success.
The proposal for the second marina - produced by Fisher and Associates, a British consultancy group, and seen by The Irish Times - identifies an area to the east of the existing 800berth marina and in front of the Royal St George and National yacht clubs.
It would involve the construction of a new breakwater from St Michael's Wharf, lead to the removal of 120 swinging moorings on the east bight and cater for 1,300 boats.
The existing marina would also increase by up to 400 berths, giving a total of 2,500 berths.
A detailed evaluation this winter will, among other things, examine the financial viability of the proposals. It will also consider car parking and a boat yard.
The project is far from being a done deal; but the fact that it is on the table at all is a step-up from the current plight around the coast, where - though there are 22 marinas - there is no real "necklace" of marinas.
The west coast of Ireland has no marinas between Kilrush Creek, Co Clare, and Fahan, Co Donegal.
On the east coast a new marina has been given the green light in Greystones but gaps remain between Arklow and Kilmore Quay and on the south coast between Kilmore Quay and Cork Harbour.
The only way to achieve sustained development of marinas is to get Government support, but in spite of compelling arguments that investment in the sector can yield only positive results, the silence from the Government has been deafening.
Dún Laoghaire's latest plan must be held out as an example of what can be achieved, but it is in the context of a single port.
The Government needs to dip its toe in the water and take a lead from one of its own commercial companies. Without its input, the fledgling marine tourism industry will continue to struggle for leeway.
