John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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241. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the discussions he has had with or the submissions received from the Port of Waterford Company over the past 12 to 18 months with a view to accessing funding to advance future development plans at Belview. [41492/19]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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The Port of Waterford Company is recognised as a Port of National Significance (Tier 2) in National Ports Policy. The port is also recognised at a European level through its inclusion in the ‘comprehensive network’ under the Ten-T Regulation.

As the Deputy is no doubt aware, the Port of Waterford, after much work, has recently completed its first Port’s Masterplan. This document, which went out for public consultation in June and July 2019, charts a vision for the port for the next 25 years. The plan identifies a number of development options for Belview and the estimated costing's for these.

National Ports Policy stipulates that there is no Exchequer funding for ports. All port developments must be financed from the Company’s own resources and/or commercial funding options. As a Ten-T Comprehensive Port, the Port of Waterford may be eligible to apply for EU Funding.

Projects applying for such funding must be in an advanced stage of preparation. Waterford Port have confirmed that they are actively investigating this possibility but at the time of the last call, April 2019, the Masterplan was yet to be completed and they did not have a project at the appropriate stage of maturity. Should an application be made for future calls, my Department will of course consider supporting such an application by Port of Waterford.