Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Rosslare Europort is acknowledged as Ireland's most strategic port. It was made a border inspection post second only to Dublin because of this. However, no Government has applied for it to have tier 1 status so that it can access financial supports from the EU for infrastructural development in line with its strategic position. The programme for Government of 2016, under the heading about attracting jobs and investment and TEN-T funding, states: "In the first three months the new Government will apply to the European Union for the revision of the TEN-T CORE Network, including applying for the reinstatement of the crossborder Western Arc." That included Rosslare Europort. This never happened and the programme for Government of 2020 does not mention it either.

It would follow that if the reason for adding Rosslare to the core network was to create jobs and investment, then not to do so will result in the loss of jobs and investment. It will not stop there. The Government's negligence in not applying to the EU to make Rosslare a core network port like Dublin and Foynes will result in a failure to keep Ireland's exports and imports competitive. Commercial traffic will slow down because of increased regulation when Brexit is upon us at the end of the year. As an island nation, 90% of goods are moved by roll-on, roll-off freight services. The road freight transport sector will be subject to new EU legislation known as the mobility package which is detrimental to Ireland because of our geographic location on the periphery of the mainland EU. The need for a daily direct service to circumvent the chaos of the landbridge will never be greater. These calls have been ignored and to continue doing so will lead to a significant increase in delays, leading to an increase in cost for the landbridge that will not work. The people of Ireland will be unforgiving when rising consumer costs for the most basic of items such as bread and sugar, as well as job losses, could have been avoided.

I ask the Taoiseach to tell the country why the Government is neglecting to take actions that should be taken to keep the country from catastrophe now and post Brexit.

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