Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. We have to identify funding streams, which is what the Department is actively doing. We are engaging with the European Commission to seek changes to the CEF criteria to allow EU funding of port infrastructure for offshore renewable energy in the next 2021-23 funding stream. We are also seeking to influence the next TEN-T regulations so that green infrastructure projects could be included in that. As a sea port on the comprehensive network, Rosslare is eligible to apply for European CEF funding for transport-related infrastructure. That work is ongoing in the Department to determine and identify funding streams.

On competition, all ports are competing with one another. We would encourage ports to work together. Some boards have different strengths and abilities. They could put together a business case. It would be a competition and state aid rules would apply around that, but there is a lot of engagement taking place within the Department and with the industry because it is critical that we get the information from industry in respect of its needs and what it requires in order to roll this out successfully for Ireland.

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