In our opinion, Dublin Port Limited’s financial statements (the “financial statements”):

• give a true and fair view of the company’s assets, liabilities and financial position as at 31 December 2016 and of its profit and cash flows for the year then ended;
• have been properly prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Practice in Ireland; and
• have been properly prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2014.

The financial statements comprise:

• the Balance Sheet as at 31 December 2016;
• the Profit and Loss account for the year then ended;
• the Statement of Comprehensive Income for the year then ended;
• the Statement of Changes in Equity for the year then ended;
• the Statement of Cash Flows for the year then ended;
• the Accounting Policies; and
• the Notes to the Financial Statements, which include other explanatory information.

The financial reporting framework that has been applied in the preparation of the financial statements is Irish law and accounting standards issued by the Financial Reporting Council and promulgated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (Generally Accepted Accounting Practice in Ireland), including FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland”.

In applying the financial reporting framework, the directors have made a number of subjective judgements, for example in respect of significant accounting estimates. In making such estimates, they have made assumptions and considered future events.

• 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.

Directors’ remuneration and transactions

Under the Companies Act 2014 we are required to report to you if, in our opinion, the disclosures of Directors’ remuneration and transactions specified by sections 305 to 312 of that Act have not been made. We have no exceptions to report arising from this responsibility.

Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies

Under the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies ("the Code") we are required to report to you if the statement regarding the system of internal financial control required under the Code as included in the Corporate Governance Statement does not reflect the Company's compliance with paragraph 13.1 (iii) of the Code or if it is not consistent with the information of which we are aware from our audit work on the financial statements. We have no exceptions to report arising from this responsibility.

Our responsibilities and those of the Directors

As explained more fully in the Directors’ Responsibilities Statement, the Directors are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view.

Our responsibility is to audit and express an opinion on the financial statements in accordance with Irish law and International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland). Those standards require us to comply with the Auditing Practices Board’s Ethical Standards for Auditors.

This report, including the opinions, has been prepared for and only for the company’s members as a body in accordance with section 391 of the Companies Act 2014 and for no other purpose. We do not, in giving these opinions, accept or assume responsibility for any other purpose or to any other person to whom this report is shown or into whose hands it may come save where expressly agreed by our prior consent in writing.

What an audit of financial statements involves

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland). An audit involves obtaining evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements sufficient to give reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement, whether caused by fraud or error. This includes an assessment of:

• whether the accounting policies are appropriate to the company’s circumstances and have been consistently applied and adequately disclosed;
• the reasonableness of significant accounting estimates made by the Directors; and
• the overall presentation of the financial statements.

We primarily focus our work in these areas by assessing the Directors’ judgements against available evidence, forming our own judgements, and evaluating the disclosures in the financial statements.

We test and examine information, using sampling and other auditing techniques, to the extent we consider necessary to provide a reasonable basis for us to draw conclusions. We obtain audit evidence through testing the effectiveness of controls, substantive procedures or a combination of both.

In addition, we read all the financial and non-financial information in the Annual Report to identify material inconsistencies with the audited financial statements and to identify any information that is apparently materially incorrect based on, or materially inconsistent with, the knowledge acquired by us in the course of performing the audit. If we become aware of any apparent material misstatements or inconsistencies we consider the implications for our report.