Mr. Glenn Carr:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to discuss Rosslare Europort, which is our second busiest roll-on roll-off, ro-ro, and passenger port. It is now a key national strategic port handling between 18% to 20% of the ro-ro freight in the country and we forecast that more than 600,000 passengers will go through the port in 2023. In overseeing significant growth in freight at Rosslare, we are also focused on supporting the growing demand for sustainable travel. We will see a substantial increase in tourism and passenger traffic at the port. We are currently well ahead of pre-Covid passenger numbers.

Rosslare Europort is primed to play a leading role for the country as the gateway to Europe for freight and passenger activity, creating Ireland’s offshore renewable national hub, and providing much-needed additional port capacity for the south-east coast. It also has the potential to alleviate the challenges facing ports such as Dublin regarding current and future congestion. To support our ambitious plans, the port and its stakeholders are embarking on the largest ever investment in the history of the port. Significant physical and digital infrastructure projects are under way at the port and include the following: construction of the T7 border control post; a port freight and passenger master plan; a berth extension programme; the purchase of additional land; digital port smart systems; a new port access road; and the offshore renewable hub. I am delighted to say that we received the required foreshore licences and planning and secured funding for most of the above projects.

I will concentrate on the construction of the offshore renewable hub. I can confirm that all foreshore licence requirements have been received and we are currently well advanced in our planning and funding phases of the project. The offshore renewable electricity support scheme, ORESS, 1 auction results released last week by Eirgrid mark a significant milestone for Ireland’s offshore wind. These projects, involving in excess of 3 GW of capacity, represent a major step forward to delivering a capacity target of 5 GW of offshore wind by 2030. I take this opportunity to congratulate all those involved in Ireland's first offshore wind auction. The first successful wind farm operators can progress their projects in the knowledge that, by the time construction commences, Rosslare Europort will have progressed our current plans to establish a dedicated offshore renewable hub. Equally, for the unsuccessful bidders, we continue to look forward to working in partnership with them in future.

Rosslare Europort is the best positioned and located to be developed to meet the port infrastructure needs of this industry for the projects planned but we cannot stand still. Ireland must invest heavily in port infrastructure and supporting facilities to deliver these major renewable infrastructure projects. The offshore renewable energy, ORE, hub development at Rosslare Europort will be the first of its kind in a port within the Republic of Ireland. Representing a €220 million investment, this world-class facility will provide the ORE industry with the necessary port infrastructure to support the many wind farm projects planned for the Irish and Celtic Seas.

The project at Rosslare will see the construction of two new berths of at least 230 m in length, with a chart depth of at least 12 m, an approach channel of -10 m, and 20 ha of reclaimed land to create a dedicated storage and assembly area and a management control centre, along with offices and other operations and maintenance, OM, facilities. Our planned new ORE facility at the port will be designed to be multimodal in the future. This means that once the heavy ORE activity is completed for the various projects, the facility at the port will be easily transferable for additional ro-ro, lift-on lift-off, lo-lo, and container roll-on roll-off, con-ro, activity.

This will be of strategic importance for the east coast especially in light of the future capacity Dublin Port will face in the next decade. The design of the facilities has been informed by discussions with ORE developers and major equipment manufacturers, as well as port and ORE engineering specialist consultants. Rosslare has received its foreshore licence, which will allow for the final surveys to be completed which are necessary to apply for planning permission. Planning permission is expected to be submitted during the second or third quarter of 2024, with a maximum six- to 12-month planning period needed to follow. A 12- to 18-month construction schedule would see the site operational late 2026 or early 2027.

Delivery of the project in a timely manner will be key to maximising its value. From a commercial perspective, a delay in availability of Rosslare’s port infrastructure will mean that the earliest ORE projects will need to turn elsewhere potentially outside of the State to service their projects. A delay in the delivery of Rosslare’s port infrastructure will also have a knock-on impact in the context of the delivery of 2030 offshore targets and broader economic implications for Ireland.

Success in the auction is considered to be a major de-risking milestone for phase 1 developers. Prior to auction submission, developers will have undertaken extensive engagement with suppliers but would not have had firm agreements in place at the time of bidding and will therefore have made assumptions on key supply chain elements. ORE projects that were successful in auction can now commence work to lock-in major supply chain items, including ports and installation vessels, and we look forward to continued engagement with industry in the coming months to address these issues.

Iarnród Éireann has also engaged with a number of funders to understand their key considerations in respect of structuring and overall project bankability. Funders are keen to stress their interest in working with Iarnród Éireann, particularly in respect of the ORE project which would align well with their lending strategies and increasing sustainability focus. We are finalising our business case and funding options. We intend to present these to the Department of Transport in the coming weeks and discuss the options and interventions that will be required to support the delivery of the project.

We look forward to engaging further with all agencies and stakeholders in successfully completing the final milestones of this project. We wish to acknowledge the collective collaboration to date between the Departments of Transport, Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Environment, Climate and Communications and Finance, Transport Infrastructure Ireland and Wexford County Council.

We cannot not shy away from the importance of ensuring how a more sustainable way our ports operate can be developed. Ensuring ship-to-shore connectivity requirements in the medium to longer term plans for Rosslare and the reconnection of rail freight are high on the agenda for the port.

We await the outcome of the all-island rail review. We have very ambitious plans for rail freight, and we must enhance and grow rail freight at Dublin and Waterford ports which are already connected. Work has commenced on the reinstatement of the Shannon Foynes line and discussions are under way with the Port of Cork. Rail freight is a key national and EU policy in decarbonising the transport sector and ports have a responsibility to ensure that rail-based solutions form part of their master plans.