Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Question 491: To ask the Minister for Transport if he will work closely with other relevant Departments in pushing forward the proposal to develop the port of Bremore, north of Balbriggan as a sensible solution to Ireland's port congestion at Dublin Port and to become the point of the nation's vital import and export activities. [10133/06]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The Government's ports policy statement, launched in January 2005, aims to better equip the port sector and its stakeholders to meet national and regional capacity and service needs.

One of the key challenges that lie ahead is the provision of adequate in-time port capacity, particularly for unitised trade. The policy statement sets out a framework to ensure that capacity needs are identified, planned and progressed in a co-ordinated manner.

As an initial step in this process, the Department consulted with the commercial ports handling unitised trade, to determine their view of port capacity and how they intended to deal with the projected capacity requirement. Drogheda Port Company responded in this regard with information on its proposal to develop a new port facility at Bremore in north County Dublin.

In addition, in September 2005 the Department appointed a firm of consultants expert in this field, Fisher Associates, to invite detailed project submissions from the commercial ports. Fisher Associates has recently received these submissions and will finalise its report over the coming months. I can inform the Deputy that a submission was received from Drogheda Port Company on its Bremore proposal.

The purpose of this process is to satisfy the Government that the anticipated capacity requirement to 2014 and beyond can be efficiently and adequately met through the successful advancement and implementation by the port sector of some combination of the key projects. The process is being closely co-ordinated with other relevant Departments through a steering committee that includes representatives of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Department of Finance.