The former Taoiseach, Mr Charles Haughey, will be exempt from an increase in berthing charges proposed for Dingle Harbour to meet staffing and running costs.
The Dingle Harbour Board unanimously voted to exempt Mr Haughey's yacht, Celtic Mist, from all berthing charges when it took office four years ago.
Yesterday, the Fine Gael vice-chairman of the harbour board, and a member of Údarás na Gaeltachta, Cllr Seamus Cósaí Fitzgerald, defended the exemption.
He said Mr Haughey was entitled to the exemption, as he was the only senior government figure who ever did anything for Dingle Harbour. "There's a bit of humanity in me. I like to give credit where it is due," said Mr Fitzgerald.
The free berth for the yacht was worth at most €200 a year, given the number of times it now visited the harbour. And it was only for the duration of Mr Haughey's lifetime, he said.
Dingle is the third-busiest fishing harbour in the State, handling a large volume of Spanish, French and Irish fishing vessels.
Its marina provides facilities for visiting yachts and leisure craft. Unlike Killybegs, Co Donegal, nearby Castletownbere in West Cork and Rossaveel in Co Galway, all designated fishery harbour centres, Dingle has to finance its own staffing costs which cover a harbour master and two other employees.
There are also maintenance and other factors and it costs some €200,000 to run the harbour each year, Mr Fitzgerald said.
New safety regulations, as well as the Litter Acts and maintenance, are adding to Dingle's costs.
It has been fighting for designated harbour centre status for years but successive governments have ignored the Co Kerry port's pleas. "Each has promised, but none has delivered," Mr Fitzgerald said.
Mr Haughey, who owns Inishvickillane, the southernmost of the Blasket Islands off the Kerry coast, was the first to take an interest, and secured £4.5 million for Dingle harbour, he said.
The money was "well spent", Mr Fitzgerald added.