Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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159. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to provide a breakdown of expenditure in maritime transport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46316/24]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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As an Island nation, over 90% of Ireland's international trade in volume terms and around 10% of passengers are transported by sea. The core objective of National Ports Policy is to facilitate a competitive and effective market for maritime transport services. In line with this Policy and NDP objectives, the commercial State ports of Dublin, Cork, Shannon Foynes and Waterford, as well as Rosslare Europort, are advancing projects under their port Masterplans to provide increased capacity for the trading needs of Ireland.

Commercial State ports receive no exchequer funding, in line with National Ports Policy, and must fund their developments through their own revenues, borrowings, EU grant funding or private sector involvement. In the most recent allocation in July 2024 two Irish port projects were selected to receive more than €112m in funding from the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for Transport fund.

Dublin Port Company, Ireland’s largest port handling over 50% of national port tonnage will receive a total of €73.8m CEF funding towards key components of its 'MP2' Project which will increase berth capacity to handle projected future demand for Roll-On Roll-Off (RoRo) freight. This project, as part of the port's Masterplan strategy, will meet the needs of economic growth, Ireland’s rising population, and operator demand for new RoRo services and larger vessels on direct services to Europe.

The Port of Cork Company, the second largest port in the State will receive a total of €38.4m CEF funding for the construction of two quay berths at the Port of Cork’s Ringaskiddy deep water port. This project will see enhanced safe and reliable maritime access while providing essential infrastructure to meet the needs of the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) industry.

In addition, it was announced on 1 October 2024 that a financing agreement had been reached between the Port of Cork Company and the Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF). The investment commitment of €88.5 million by ISIF will enable Port of Cork to move ahead with the development of port infrastructure at Ringaskiddy to meet the specific requirements of the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) sector.

In terms of shipping, Ireland's connectivity is served by national and international shipping companies that have established strong positions and demonstrated an ability and appetite to invest in and develop their services, to meet the needs of the Irish economy. These companies are all independent commercial operators, and no exchequer funding is provided to the sector.

The strength of the current competitive model has been demonstrated over the last number of years throughout enormous challenges to the sector with COVID-19, Brexit and the current Ukrainian conflict. The agility of the sector was further demonstrated recently when the ferry companies rapidly redeployed their vessels to other ports to facilitate trade and passengers between Ireland and the United Kingdom following the temporary closure of Holyhead port in North Wales in early December 2024.

While the following scheme is not under the remit of the Department of Transport, the Islands Programme of the Department of Rural and Community Development supports island communities by providing subsidised domestic ferry, cargo and air services between the islands and the mainland to ensure the continued viability of these communities. Details can found at: