Independent Auditors’ Report

Report on the audit of the financial statements

Opinion on the financial statements of Dublin Port Company (the ‘Company’)

In our opinion the financial statements:

• give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities and financial position of the Company as at financial year ended 31 December 2021 and of the profit for the financial year then ended; and
• have been properly prepared in accordance with the relevant financial reporting framework and, in particular, with the requirements of the Companies Act 2014.

The financial statements we have audited comprise:

• Summary of Significant Accounting Policies;
• the Profit and Loss Account;
• the Statement of Comprehensive Income;
• the Balance Sheet;
• the Statement of Changes in Equity;
• the Statement of Cash Flows; and
• the related notes 1 to 32.

The relevant financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is the Companies Act 2014 and FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” issued by the Financial Reporting Council (“the relevant financial reporting framework”).

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (Ireland) (ISAs (Ireland)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are described below in the “Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements” section of our report.

We are independent of the Company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in Ireland, including the Ethical Standard issued by the Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority, as applied to SME listed entities, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements.

We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Summary of our audit approach

Key audit matters

The key audit matters that we identified in the current year were:

• Appropriateness of key assumptions used to determine retirement benefit liabilities

Within this report, any new key audit matters are identified with and any key audit matters which are the same as the prior year identified with .

Materiality

The materiality that we used in the current year was €1,515,000 which was determined on the basis of a percentage of Profit Before Tax.

Scoping

An audit was completed of Dublin Port Company.

Significant changes in our approach

No significant changes in our audit approach.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the Directors’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Our evaluation of the Directors’ assessment of the Company’s ability to continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting included:

• Review of cash flow forecasts prepared by management;
• Testing clerical accuracy of the cash flow forecasts prepared;
• Assessing the historical accuracy of forecasts prepared by management; and
• Review of financing facilities in place including assessing the nature of facilities, repayment terms and covenants.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the Directors with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Key Audit Matters

Key audit matters are those matters that, in our professional judgment, were of most significance in our audit of the financial statements of the current financial year and include the most significant assessed risks of material misstatement (whether or not due to fraud) we identified, including those which had the greatest effect on: the overall audit strategy, the allocation of resources in the audit; and directing the efforts of the engagement team.

These matters were addressed in the context of our audit of the financial statements as a whole, and in forming our opinion thereon, and we do not provide a separate opinion on these matters.

Appropriateness of key assumptions used to determine retirement benefit liabilities

Key audit matter description

The Company operates a defined benefit pension scheme. The net pension asset as at 31 December 2021 amounted to €53m.

There is a high degree of estimation uncertainty and judgement in the calculation of the pension liabilities, particularly in the determination of appropriate actuarial assumptions in respect of the discount and inflation rates. We have identified the appropriateness of these key assumptions as a key audit matter due to the volatility of the assumptions and the significant impact they have on the calculation of the pension liabilities.

Please also refer to page 36 (Accounting Policy – Defined Benefit Pension Plan), and Note 3 – Critical accounting judgements and estimates.

How the scope of our audit responded to the key audit matter

We obtained an understanding of management’s processes and assessed the design and determined the implementation of the key relevant controls.

We utilised Deloitte Actuarial Specialists as part of our team to assist us in understanding, evaluating and challenging the appropriateness of the discount and inflation rates.

We made inquiries with both management and the Company’s external pension advisors to understand their processes in determining the discount and inflation rates used in calculating retirement benefit liabilities.

We benchmarked the discount and inflation rates used against comparable market and peer data to ensure that they were within appropriate ranges and reasonable given our knowledge of the schemes.

We assessed whether the disclosures made in the financial statements in respect of retirement benefit schemes were in accordance with the relevant accounting standards.

Key observations

Based on the evidence obtained, we found that the discount and inflation rates used by management in the actuarial valuations for pension liabilities are within a range we consider reasonable.

Our audit procedures relating to these matters were designed in the context of our audit of the financial statements as a whole, and not to express an opinion on individual accounts or disclosures. Our opinion on the financial statements is not modified with respect to any of the risks described above, and we do not express an opinion on these individual matters.

Our application of materiality

We define materiality as the magnitude of misstatement that makes it probable that the economic decisions of a reasonably knowledgeable person, relying on the financial statements, would be changed or influenced. We use materiality both in planning the scope of our audit work and in evaluating the results of our work.

We determined materiality for the Company to be €1,515,000 which is approximately 5% of Profit Before Tax. We have considered Profit Before Tax to be the critical component for determining materiality due to the significance of this balance for users of the financial statements. We have considered quantitative and qualitative factors such as understanding the entity and its environment, history of misstatements, complexity of the Company and reliability of control environment.

We agreed with the Audit & Risk Committee that we would report to them any audit differences in excess of €75,750, as well as differences below that threshold which, in our view, warranted reporting on qualitative grounds. We also report to the Audit & Risk Committee on disclosure matters that we identified when assessing the overall presentation of the financial statements.

An overview of the scope of our audit

Our audit was scoped by obtaining an understanding of the Company and its environment, including the accounting processes and controls in place and the industry in which the Company operates. Based on this assessment, we identified the risks of material misstatement.

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The Directors are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report.

Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Responsibilities of Directors

As explained more fully in the Directors’ Responsibilities for Financial Statements included in the Directors report , the Directors are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view and otherwise comply with the Companies Act 2014, and for such internal control as the Directors determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the Directors are responsible for assessing the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Directors either intend to liquidate the Company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (Ireland) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

As part of an audit in accordance with ISAs (Ireland), we exercise professional judgment and maintain professional scepticism throughout the audit. We also:

• Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.
• Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control.
• Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates and related disclosures made by the Directors.
• Conclude on the appropriateness of the Directors’ use of the going concern basis of accounting and, based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw attention in our auditor’s report to the related disclosures in the financial statements or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify our opinion. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained up to the date of the auditor’s report. However, future events or conditions may cause the entity (or where relevant, the group) to cease to continue as a going concern.
• Evaluate the overall presentation, structure and content of the financial statements, including the disclosures, and whether the financial statements represent the underlying transactions and events in a manner that achieves fair presentation.

We communicate with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that the auditor identifies during the audit.

For listed entities and public interest entities, the auditor also provides those charged with governance with a statement that the auditor has complied with relevant ethical requirements regarding independence, including the Ethical Standard for Auditors (Ireland) 2016, and communicates with them all relationships and other matters that may reasonably be thought to bear on the auditor’s independence, and where applicable, related safeguards.

Where the auditor is required to report on key audit matters, from the matters communicated with those charged with governance, the auditor determines those matters that were of most significance in the audit of the financial statements of the current period and are therefore the key audit matters. The auditor describes these matters in the auditor’s report unless law or regulation precludes public disclosure about the matter or when, in extremely rare circumstances, the auditor determines that a matter should not be communicated in the auditor’s report because the adverse consequences of doing so would reasonably be expected to outweigh the public interest benefits of such communication.

Report on other legal and regulatory requirements

Opinion on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2014

Based solely on the work undertaken in the course of the audit, we report that:

• We have obtained all the information and explanations which we consider necessary for the purposes of our audit.
• In our opinion the accounting records of the Company were sufficient to permit the financial statements to be readily and properly audited.
• The financial statements are in agreement with the accounting records.
• In our opinion the information given in the Directors’ report is consistent with the financial statements and the Directors’ report has been prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 2014.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

Based on the knowledge and understanding of the Company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Directors’ report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the provisions in the Companies Act 2014 which require us to report to you if, in our opinion, the disclosures of Directors’ remuneration and transactions specified by law are not made.

Under the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies (August 2016) (the “Code of Practice”), we are required to report to you if the statement regarding the system of internal financial control required under the Code of Practice as included in the Corporate Governance Statement in the Directors Report does not reflect the Company’s compliance with paragraph 1.9(iv) of the Code of Practice or if it is not consistent with the information of which we are aware from our audit work on the financial statements. We have nothing to report in this respect.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the Company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Section 391 of the Companies Act 2014. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the Company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the Company and the Company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Daniel Murray

For and on behalf of Deloitte Ireland LLP

Chartered Accountants and Statutory Audit Firm

Deloitte & Touche House, Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2

25th March 2022