Johnny Mythen (Wexford, Sinn Fein)
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51. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if a traffic plan has been put in place for Rosslare Europort, given that a full plan was put in place for Dublin Port; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3453/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I am advised that Rosslare Europort commenced engagement with the State Agencies operating at the Port and An Garda Síochána in 2019 in relation to traffic flows and traffic management and that engagement continued throughout 2020.

The purpose of this engagement was to agree traffic management arrangements at the port and its immediate environs.

Unlike Dublin Port, Rosslare Europort is not in the immediate vicinity of critical traffic infrastructure such as the Dublin Tunnel and as such it was not considered necessary for my Department to develop a traffic management plan. Whereas the exit of the North bore of the Tunnel and the entrance to Dublin Port is a very short distance, meaning that any congestion within Dublin Port could have an almost immediate impact on the Dublin Tunnel. For safety reasons it is not possible to have stagnant traffic in the Dublin Tunnel, this, and the potential for Brexit-related traffic congestion at Dublin Port to impact on adjacent roads and the motorway system are the primary reasons why it was necessary to introduce a traffic management plan in Dublin.

Furthermore, in contrast to Dublin Port, a significant volume of traffic using Rosslare Europort is trade to/from Continental Europe, this trade avoids the new Brexit related interventions which are applicable to trade from the UK since the 1st January 2021. As a consequence, it is possible for this traffic to exit Rosslare Europort immediately without the requirement to stay in the port to undergo checks thus less likely to cause significant congestion.