Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will ask some questions myself and, if we have the chance, we will get back to all other Deputies. Does Deputy Harkin wish to speak? No. That is fine. As Mr. Lacey will be aware from our previous interaction, I was concerned about the report when it was published. I was of the view that it was overly complacent with regard to the real pressures that would come on the land bridge in even the best circumstances and with regard to its complete disruption in the worst circumstances. I was concerned that we had not prepared for that.

I have a number of questions. With regard to the recommendations Mr. Lacey has again presented to the committee, other than the communications campaign, the general recommendations basically amount to advice to watch and wait. We have dealt with various stakeholders with regard to Brexit and there does not seem to be anything proactive in these preparations. He asserted that we cannot replicate the 12 daily sailings to the UK, but we could replicate quite a number of them and have done so. Since our previous interaction with the IMDO, the number of scheduled direct sailings from Rosslare Europort has quadrupled. That indicates that there is significant market demand. There is also a new player, although it was indicated that the existing players had sufficient capacity. That is my understanding of the report. Despite this, DFDS has entered the market with an initial three new vessels that will sail from Rosslare to Dunkirk from 2 January, as Mr. Lacey indicated. There is obviously demand. I spoke to representatives of DFDS on the day it launched this new schedule of sailings and the company had received immediate inquiries, including a request from one very big logistics company for four containers on every sailing. There was obviously very significant unmet demand. I am glad these new services have come to meet this demand but I am still not convinced there will be sufficient capacity in the event of significant disruption, which may still potentially arise.

To move on to my final point, in Mr. Lacey's presentation he said that it is not in the UK's interest for the Dover-Calais route not to work. That is self-evident but it will not be direct action by the UK authorities that stops the route. If, as has been indicated today, agreement on fisheries remains a real pressure point, there is at least the potential for French fishermen to disrupt the unloading of British ferries at French ports. There are real issues that have not, in my judgment, been substantially addressed in the report or in Mr. Lacey's presentation. I am interested in hearing his comments on that.