James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the issue of Rosslare Europort. As the Minister will be aware, the port is unique among the ports in Ireland in that it is not a commercial port under the Harbours Act but is, in fact, a port operated by Iarnród Éireann.

The port has a complex ownership with Fishguard in the UK.

A review was carried out on Rosslare Europort, the Indecon report, by the Minister's Department. Publication was refused and we had to submit a freedom of information, FOI, request. Rosslare Europort is a port with great history and massive potential. It is a port in the south east. It is a port that has the most substantial roll-on, roll-off traffic going to the UK or the Continent. As the Minister knows, 80% of goods, by volume, to the Continent travel over the UK land bridge. That will potentially be lost in the event of a hard Brexit. It seems increasingly more certain that we are barrelling towards a hard Brexit. Rosslare Europort makes a profit of approximately €2.5 million per annum, but because it is not a stand-alone company within Iarnród Éireann, that money is sucked out of Rosslare Europort to subsidise Iarnród Éireann's other activities. On the international markets, that kind of money would raise approximately €50 million. We know that because Wexford County Council is raising that kind of money on a similar margin.

I have been raising the issue since I was elected as a Deputy and pretty much nothing has happened with it. The Minister was down there a couple of weeks ago and it looked all nice and shiny. That is because Rosslare Europort, for the first time in 20 years, and no doubt in the awareness the Minister was coming down, decided to give it a lick of paint and probably spent about €20,000 or €30,000 out of the €2.5 million. We want the €2.5 million per annum to be spent on the port. I would have thought it was the kind of thing that would get on the Minister's wick. A State company is running a port into the ground. It is a port that is quite profitable. It is a port that could be a stand-alone, successful port if the money was kept in it. The port needs to be deepened, which will cost a hell of a lot of money. I appreciate that. The port can take the boats that are on the seas at the moment but it cannot take the boats that are planned because it is not deep enough. It is silting up. With the profit being made in the port leveraged on the international markets, the money can be raised to deepen the port. When the port is deepened, it would get the soil necessary to expand the port. In light of Brexit, I thought Rosslare Europort would be one of the key elements of developing contingency plans in the event that we lose the UK land bridge.

Leaving aside the Brexit situation, Rosslare Europort is being run into the ground. When one comes out of Rosslare Europort, there is not even a sign outside of it to say where one is. "Rosslare Europort" is not written anywhere. There are no flowers or painting outside of it. The place looks as if it is dead from the outside but it has massive potential. Will the Minister intervene with CIÉ and Iarnród Éireann and address the situation? The complex ownership is a red herring. It is something that could be addressed and which should be addressed within the context of Brexit. The Minister told me before Christmas he would raise it with his UK counterpart, Chris Grayling, in December, but for whatever reason it was not raised. It is a matter that should be resolved. It can be resolved without the ownership issue being resolved by simply creating a stand-alone company within CIÉ. The profits generated by the port would be kept in the port to develop it.

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