The Irish High Court finds no abuse of dominant position by a public port authority after it imposed a levy per passenger (Island Ferries Teoranta)

The Plaintiff is the sole commercial operator of a passenger ferry service from the Irish mainland to a harbour at Kilronan on the Aran Islands. In October 2011 the public body responsible for the management of Kilronan harbour passed a law which imposed significant charges for the use of the harbour. In particular the law imposed a levy on passenger vessels to be calculated on a ‘per passenger per entry’ basis. The charge was expressly intended to recoup the costs of extensive development works carried out on the harbour. The Plaintiff alleged that the relevant levies were an abuse of the dominant position occupied by the Defendant as the sole provider of harbour services for such a market on the Island. Since the predominant use of the harbour was by passenger ferries, and the Plaintiff