Mr. Glenn Carr:

The Senator asked about the current infrastructure in Rosslare. As well as being the general manager for Rosslare Europort, I am also the general manager of rail freight for Irish Rail and I am often asked about the development of infrastructure for Rosslare. Rosslare Europort is a roll-on, roll-off port. We currently run freight trains into Dublin Port and Waterford Port. Waterford Port, which is in the south-east region with Rosslare and New Ross, is a lift-on, lift-off port. Rail connectivity and the movement of bulk or containers are more traditional with lift-on, lift-off ports than roll-on, roll-off ports. That is not to say that trucks or trailers could not migrate directly on to freight trains in the future, as happens in parts of Europe. I have been working with Waterford Port and Wexford County Council to promote the south-east region as an alternative to Ireland's tier 1 ports. It is very important that investment plays to each port's strengths. There is little point, from a business case point of view, in putting a railway connection for freight into Rosslare when a neighbouring port in Waterford already has that facility.

Investment in the lift-on, lift-off service should be developed for Waterford Port and investment for Rosslare should concentrate on roll-on, roll-off and some additional bulk. The two ports could then jointly bring together a mixture of service offerings in the intermodal section that could compete with Dublin or Shannon Foynes, the latter in essence being a collection of ports offering different modes of transport.

The other challenge for a rail connection from Dublin into Rosslare is that it is a single line passenger service which would require significant investment and upgrades in order to accommodate freight. We would have to double the track all the way to Dublin. We should also bear in mind that due to the M11 and N25 upgrades, road connectivity to Rosslare Port has been greatly improved, which has been very well received. People can now travel from Dublin to Rosslare in 90 minutes, where they might previously have spent 90 minutes caught in traffic on the M50 or trying to access a port in Dublin city. Rosslare Port should be seen as a release valve for Dublin. It will never compete with Dublin but it can certainly take away some of the current congestion in Dublin.

I mentioned earlier that one of Rosslare's advantages is its capacity. We can currently take in additional ships and have space to handle additional sailings. There is also land availability around the Rosslare region. Rosslare, Kilrane and Wexford need industrial development, and we can use the port as the gateway to drive that development.

Iarnród Éireann has committed to an initial investment plan of just over €25 million for the port. That will improve the length of berths and the size of ships which we will handle in future, additional quayside space and technology to move trade efficiently and seamlessly through the port. Our focus is on developing the roll-on, roll-off business and on working with Waterford and New Ross in developing the south-east region and those ports.

From the rail freight perspective, we are driving that agenda forward. There are plans to connect into Shannon Foynes Port. I believe the Port of Cork is now looking again at the possibility of rail connection. Particularly in the context of the climate action agenda, and the shortage of drivers in future as Mr. Flynn would say, we strongly believe that rail freight has a role to play alongside road freight. We currently operate about 1% of rail freight in Ireland. Typically across Europe it would range between 12% to 17%. We are putting a plan in place over coming years to help drive that agenda forward. It does require investment and significant movement of freight, which justifies the business investment. Currently, rail freight and Rosslare Europort operate on a commercial basis and must stand alone on their own feet in relation to investment and growing the business. There is no direct subvention into either rail freight or Rosslare. However, freight can benefit from the use of a track that is there for passenger purposes and can be used and developed on existing lines, particularly those connecting into major cities around the country.