Mr. Michael Sheary:

Using the land bridge. The immediate impact of Brexit on Dublin Port was threefold. First, there was some diversion of ro-ro trade to Rosslare and ports in Northern Ireland. Second, there was a more significant change in the flows within Dublin from British routes to EU ones, particularly Rotterdam and Zeebrugge. Third, there was a movement from ro-ro to lo-lo. As the market found its new equilibrium over the course of 2022 and got used to the new practices, regimes and so forth, much of the trade that had been lost in 2021, particularly to Northern Irish ports, returned to Dublin. Without boring the committee with too many statistics, total volumes of trade on the island of Ireland last year were flat from a unitised perspective whereas Dublin grew by 4%. Within that ro-ro trade, we have seen a 64% increase in the volume of containers coming via direct EU routes. That is predominantly driver-unaccompanied traffic, which by its nature creates the additional pressures to which Mr. O'Connell alluded on the land space available.