Pippa Hackett (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Buttimer for his Commencement matter. The Port of Cork is currently a designated border control post, BCP, approved for container shipments of wood and wood products. Inspections take place at the Tivoli container terminal near Cork city where there is a leased Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine office and inspection room, where unloading bays have been shared with the Revenue Commissioners. The Port of Cork is currently developing new facilities approximately 20 km from Tivoli at Ringaskiddy, which will accommodate both lo-lo and ro-ro trade.

Between 2015 and 2018, a number of meetings took place between officials from the Department and representatives of the Port of Cork on the establishment of a border control post for goods of both plant and animal origin. As part of these discussions the Department outlined the regulatory requirements for a border control post and considered the options put forward by the Port of Cork for the infrastructure required. In December 2018, the port advised that it did not intend to pursue the building of a border control post at that time and it would leave such considerations until phase 2 of its development. In recent years the focus in the Department has been on ensuring that sufficient border control post inspection infrastructure was available to deal with sanitary and phytosanitary, SPS, checks. These are the import controls that apply on agrifood trade coming into the EU Single Market from third countries, including Britain following the Brexit referendum. This work has involved considerable collaboration with the Revenue Commissioners, the Health Service Executive and the Office of Public Works and has resulted in a very substantial expansion of border control post infrastructure at Dublin Port, as well as the building of an interim facility in Kilrane close to Rosslare Europort. Work on plans for the building of a permanent facility in Rosslare Europort was completed towards the end of last year and planning permission has been sought and approved. The Irish Maritime Development Office's report indicates there is sufficient capacity on existing services in the roll-on roll-off network between Ireland and mainland Europe to satisfy demand. The Port of Cork has since submitted a case for the building of a border control post capable of handling food products at the Ringaskiddy terminal. It argues that Munster is the heart of the Irish agricultural sector and it believes the Port of Cork is the natural hub for imports and exports. Many of the products that require inspection are routed through Dublin Port for inspection and it believes, as does the Senator, that a border control post in the Port of Cork could reduce costs to local business and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport contributing to Ireland's climate targets. It also makes the point that the Port of Cork could be used as an alternative, contingency and overflow facility, should difficulties and congestion arise at the Dublin Port and Rosslare Europort border control posts. The issue of whether a border control posts might be required in the Port of Cork remains under consideration.

While the Department already handles wood products in Cork, it should be noted that the physical infrastructure required for handling bulk wood products and that required for handling food products are very different. Such a border control post would still have to comply with the official control regulation, be approved by the European Commission and be resourced by Department inspection staff. In addition, the location of the physical inspection premises as a border control post may only be located in a customs-controlled area. Officials from the Department are continuing to analyse the requirements for this facility.