Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

On 3 May last, the Minister told the House that the structure of the port’s ownership was somewhat unorthodox and would certainly need to come under more immediate scrutiny. That does not seem to have really happened, however. Several weeks ago, the Minister of State in the Department of Defence, Deputy Kehoe, brought a delegation to Brussels to meet the European Commissioner for Transport to stress the need for investment in Rosslare. Will the Minister explain why the Department of Defence has become involved?

Why has it taken until now, on the eve of Brexit, for someone to wake up and state that something needs to be done about Rosslare, the closest port in the State to mainland Europe? I fail to understand why Rosslare was not developed into a strategic harbour a long time ago. Central Statistics Office, CSO, port traffic figures from 2016 show that Rosslare had arrival gross tonnage of 32,000 tonnes, Cork, 18,000, and Shannon, 10,000. Are Cork and Shannon getting more investment than Rosslare? In terms of footfall, Rosslare had 268,000 passengers in 2016 compared with Dublin, which had just under 500,000 passengers, yet it is left behind. Wexford is a deprived county and could be given a boost through investment in Rosslare Europort.

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