Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 October 2018
60. Deputy James Browne asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if the Office of Public Works has discussed, drafted or prepared plans for new properties or to acquire existing properties at or near Rosslare Harbour, County Wexford, in preparation for Brexit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43653/18]
View answerThis question relates to Rosslare Harbour in County Wexford. I am tabling the question for Deputy Browne. Will the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform indicate if the Office of Public Works has carried out any works or prepared any plans for new properties? Has the OPW acquired any existing properties near Rosslare Harbour in preparation for Brexit? Will the Minister make a statement on the matter?
The Government's contingency planning for Brexit is being overseen by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which is co-ordinating a whole-of-government response through several cross-departmental co-ordination structures. One focus of this contingency planning has been the adequacy of the current port and airport infrastructure and facilities post-Brexit. Physical infrastructure at Rosslare Europort, Dublin Port and Dublin Airport have been assessed to identify the requirements necessary to ensure customs controls and sanitary and phytosanitary checks can be carried out while ensuring the free flow of goods is maintained in these locations. These checks would come into force once the United Kingdom has left the European Union. They will include checks on consignments of live animals, plants, plant and animal products, foods of non-animal origin, cosmetic products and tobacco-related products.
The Office of Public Works has been working with the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Department of Health and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport as well as the relevant port and airport authorities to assist in identifying any specific infrastructural requirements in the context of Brexit. As part of this assessment the requirements in Rosslare Europort have been taken into consideration. Discussions are ongoing with the chief executive of Rosslare Europort with a view to formulating a detailed action plan.
Rosslare Europort has vast unrealised potential. It is our primary roll-on, roll-off port. It is the only port or airport that has a train station. A total of 80% of the volume of goods produced here currently goes to the Continent using the UK land bridge. If there is a hard Brexit then there will be tailbacks in the port. It needs to be developed to meet these demands. Time and again, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport has failed to set out plans for the port to become a driver of the economy of Wexford and the south-eastern region. Rosslare Europort makes a profit of €2.5 million annually but it looks like a ghost town. If the profit was reinvested in the port instead of being returned to its owner, Iarnród Éireann, it would leverage approximately €15 million on the international market.
In March this year the Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Moran, told my colleague, Deputy Browne, that Revenue Commissioners staff needed additional accommodation and that a suitable site had been identified. At that stage negotiations were ongoing. Can the Minister indicate what stage those preparations are at now?
I agree with Deputy Troy, and he is right to say that in the context of what may happen with Brexit our port infrastructure, and especially Rosslare Europort, will acquire a new significance. Our port infrastructure will be even more important to how we maintain access to the Single Market. My assessment differs a little from that of Deputy Troy in the idea of Rosslare as a ghost town but I accept more needs to be done in terms of the potential for the town in future.
Deputy Troy asked about the position at the moment and the engagement of the Office of Public Works with the port. We will work to become clearer about the potential objectives of the port in future. We are now looking at the potential detail of a plan and how the State will need to support the delivery of that plan.
I am glad someone in the Government realises the potential of Rosslare Europort because certainly the Minister's colleague, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, does not. If he did, he would change the ownership model for the benefit of Rosslare Europort, which is making €2.5 million per annum.
The Minister will know this himself from his days as Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. It has huge potential and that money could be used to leverage funding on the international market and improve the facilities. That is what everyone would like to see.
We are only a few short months away from Brexit. There are real concerns in both Rosslare Europort and in other ports that we are not going to have the necessary infrastructural improvements made in time. In a reply to a parliamentary question from my colleague, Deputy Michael McGrath, earlier this week, we have been told we are not going to have the significant number of Revenue officials employed by the end of March. The Minister of State, Deputy Moran, made a commitment to my colleague, Deputy Browne, earlier this year. In that respect, have those additional accommodations been acquired and will they be ready by March of next year?
All of the work we have done has been based on the central case scenario of a transition period being in place. It continues to be the negotiating objective of the European Union task force, Ireland, as well as of the United Kingdom, that a transitional period can be agreed. We will stand by and deliver on the commitments we made about when customs officers would be recruited and available. We outlined objectives for the end of the transition period and what would need to happen by next March. All of that will be delivered.
On the detailed question the Deputy has asked of the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, in respect of the accommodation in Rosslare port, I will ask the Minister of State to respond directly to the Deputy.
