Vol. 411 No. 7
242 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Tourism, Transport and Communications if his attention has been drawn to the displacement of traffic from the central and southern corridors to the northern corridor for Irish shipping services; if he will outline the reason for this change; and if he will outline the steps he is taking to reverse the situation.
It has been recognised for some time that a substantial amount of freight traffic which might have been expected to travel via the central and southern corridors travels instead through the northern corridor. This diversion of traffic is attributable to a number of interwoven factors which operate in favour of the northern ports, including shipping costs, frequency and capacity of shipping services, port charges, lower costs of Northern Ireland hauliers and so on.
These problems are being tackled, inter alia, through a major programme of investment in transport infrastructure under the operational programme on peripherality. A key objective of this investment is to reduce the transport cost disadvantages which Ireland's unique peripherality and island nation status imposes on Irish exporters.
For the same reason, as explained in the reply to a parliamentary question last week, a formal application has been made on behalf of the Government for EC grant aid for mobile assets.
