Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As set out in the previous reply to Deputy Martin Kenny, the Department continues to work with the State's ports as they progress projects in their master plans in line with national development plan objectives and national ports policy. The tier 1 ports of Dublin, Cork and Shannon Foynes all undertook significant capital expenditure in 2022. On 25 April 2023, the Government announced a tender to significantly upgrade facilities at Rosslare Europort. These upgrade works are necessary to provide permanent Brexit infrastructure at Rosslare Europort to ensure compliance with EU customs, sanitary and phytosanitary, SPS, and official food controls legislation, providing protection for the EU Single Market.

All of these developments must be financed by the companies without recourse to the Exchequer. They can be financed from their own cash, borrowings, EU grant funding or private sector involvement. Therefore, access to the trans-European transport network, TEN-T, connecting Europe facility, CEF, or other grant funding is vitally important to the ports. The Department assists ports in the CEF application process. The Government is also committed to ensuring that our national commercial ports are positive contributors to the ORE industry and that Ireland meets the ambitious targets of 7 GW of offshore wind, 2 GW of which is specifically dedicated to green hydrogen, by 2030. Supporting the development of port infrastructure is a core objective of the national offshore wind delivery task force and the Department is working very closely with the task force in this regard.

Under national ports policy, State commercial ports operate as independent commercial bodies. The policy does not provide for direct Exchequer funding. This policy has proven very effective in developing a highly competitive and responsive ports sector in which ports have continually proven to be agile in responding to market needs and opportunities. However, the need to maximise financing opportunities for ports is also recognised. In addition to support for ports as part of the CEF process, the Department continues to engage with all industry stakeholders, including potential financing partners such as the EU via the connecting Europe facility, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF, and the European Investment Bank, EIB, to examine viable projects capable of generating a commercial return. Several ports are already working with financial advisers to finalise detailed business cases that will determine their investment requirements and how best they can be met. The Department has also engaged the New Economy and Recovery Authority, NewERA, to review ports plans and consider the availability of financing mechanisms to support the delivery of port projects.

See this speech in context