Mr. Justin Moran:

It is quite difficult to put a figure on it because it varies from port to port. Some ports have different levels of infrastructure. In the past 12 months, we have seen developments like the Doyle Shipping Group facility at the port of Cork and developments in Rosslare and Shannon Foynes and there is a proposal to build a new port in Bremore in north County Dublin. They are all coming forward with proposals, ideas and plans and the cost of each of them will vary because some ports have different levels of infrastructure in place. In terms of a ball park figure, we are talking about tens of millions of euro but the actual figure will vary from project to port to port. They have also applied for funding to the Connecting Europe facility so their hope is that they would be able to draw down funding from Europe that would enable them to carry out those investments and put in place the infrastructure that is needed.

The last point raised by the Senator is the critical one. It concerns the timing of this and how quickly we can get those ports ready. If we are looking at our phase one projects, those five ports on the east coast and one off the coast of the Senator's home county of Galway near Rossaveel, we are looking at projects in respect of which we hope to apply for planning permission next year. We hope to start construction in 2025 or 2026 at the outside so the question for us is whether ports other than Belfast will be ready then for those projects. Belfast will be able to take some of that work. It is a first-class facility but it cannot build six Irish offshore wind farms at the same time. If those ports are not ready, those projects will be looking to other ports and other infrastructure opportunities to provide the construction marshalling services. This is why it is not just important that the investment is there but that the investment comes through quickly and the ports are helped to get through the planning process to put in place the infrastructure they need.