Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

I warmly support those comments. The Welsh Assembly and local interests in Cork estimate that the Cork to Swansea ferry was worth approximately €70 million to the two economies and it is therefore critical that we get it up and running again.

In general, it seems to some who observe ferry connectivity with Britain that such connectivity is declining rather than increasing. There are threats to Stena coming out of the port of Dún Laoghaire into Holyhead and sailings have been seriously cut back to one per day. Is the Minister of State aware of that and is the Department taking any initiatives to try to increase connectivity from Ireland out of Dún Laoghaire, Cork and our other ports not just to Britain but to continental Europe?

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