2025-12-11

The Port of Waterford is a critical infrastructural asset and has very important potential to support Ireland's growing offshore renewable energy sector. This would obviously create jobs across the south east but it would also ensure the State can meet its climate action targets. I have met the chairman and representatives of the port several times over the last number of years. They have very ambitious targets and plans. They are looking for State support. Like Rosslare Europort, it is a very important asset for the south east. I know Rosslare Europort also has plans in respect of offshore renewable energy but the two ports complement each other because the Port of Waterford is seeking to support offshore wind turbine staging, assembly and maintenance operations. It is seeking to create a regional supply chain ecosystem for marine engineering, fabrication and component servicing. Investment in the port and in offshore renewable energy is important for job creation and skills development in renewable technologies and maritime logistics. I have also spoken to the president of the South East Technological University, SETU. There is collaboration between a number of State agencies in relation to the Port of Waterford as well. If you have an offshore renewable energy terminal and offshore renewable energy potential, with Rosslare Europort and the Port of Waterford playing their different parts in that, there will also be huge potential for research and development. That is where the links to SETU come in. Courses there could lead to the creation of very high-quality jobs in the south east for graduates coming out of this regional university. This is a no-brainer. When I met the port representatives, they were very enthusiastic about this. They want it to work. They know how important renewable energy is. Whether people like it or not, we all know that we are going to have to move away from dirty fuels. Renewable energy is the future. Smart countries, smart regions and smart investors are making those investments. The south east wants to be ahead of the curve and it wants to be part of that. The people I have spoken to in this area and in the port say that there is potential for hundreds of millions of euro of investment over a number of years if the right decisions are made. I am a bit concerned that other ports seem to be ahead on the funding curve. I am not quite sure why that is the case. A lot of work has gone into plans. I have received PowerPoint presentations and other presentations from the board. Together with our MEP, Kathleen Funchion, my party leader and I visited the port and got a similar presentation. The port is certainly up and at it, lobbying and looking for funding, but it does not seem to be getting the funding that other ports have got. Will the Minister of State respond to that point and set out his perspective on the Government's plans to support the Port of Waterford and, indeed, Rosslare Europort? The Government should look at the whole region, those two ports and linkages with SETU as a really big opportunity for the south east to be a leader in offshore renewable energy. The ports and university could complement one another, create high-quality jobs and assist the State in meeting its crucial climate action targets.

I thank Deputy Cullinane for raising this very important issue. We both share an ambition with regard to offshore renewable energy, investment in job creation and collaboration with the South East Technological University. I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister. I apologise that he is not here. At the beginning, I will reaffirm that the Government is committed to facilitating the development of all commercial State ports, such as the Port of Waterford, to develop enabling port infrastructure for the offshore renewable energy industry. In 2021, the Government recognised the need for additional port infrastructure in a policy statement on the facilitation of offshore renewable energy, ORE, by commercial State ports in Ireland. This policy statement sets out that a number of ports will be required for deployment activity and a multiple will be required for operations and maintenance activities. The Government endorses a multiport approach to offshore renewable energy deployment on the basis that this will maximise the attractiveness of Ireland for offshore renewable energy industry stakeholders seeking to invest. In September of this year, the Port of Waterford took a significant step in submitting its planning application for a development at Belview. Ministers and officials in the Department of Transport welcome the submission of the Port of Waterford’s planning application. If the port is successful in its planning application, it will enhance the port’s ability to start advance conversations with investors around the financing of the project. The scale of the proposed development of infrastructure at Belview is significant. The project will consist of a 250 m quay wall extension with 2 ha of quayside space. The port will also provide new quayside operator support facilities with workshops and warehouses, berthing pontoons and two separate three-storey office and staff buildings for offshore renewable energy operators. This will allow the port to act in a supporting role for the construction of offshore wind farms, particularly through the storage of ancillary components for offshore wind, such as subsea cables. The marshalling and assembly of large-scale components, such as foundations, blades and tower sections, is expected to take place in other ports. Along with the Port of Cork and Rosslare Europort, the Port of Waterford is strategically located to service the south coast designated maritime area plan approved by Government last year. The first auction for the south coast designated maritime area plan, SC-DMAP, for the Tonn Nua site took place in November. This auction successfully procured 900 MW of ORE capacity to be delivered by ESB and Ørsted, marking a significant milestone in Ireland's offshore renewable energy ambitions. Subsequent auctions are due to take place in the coming years, providing a sufficient pipeline of projects for ports to service. This is expected to bolster the case for investment in ports infrastructure and enhance the viability of ORE port facilities such as those at the Port of Waterford. The port is also ideally positioned to support phase 1 of offshore renewable energy development currently in the planning system. The national ORE DMAP, due by 2027, will further enhance the case for investment. The objective of the national DMAP is to designate sufficient maritime area to deliver a target of 20 GW of offshore renewable energy by 2040, inclusive of the 5 GW target for 2030. Regarding investment in the Port of Waterford, the current national ports policy does not allow for direct Exchequer funding for ports. However, as Deputy Cullinane knows, this policy is currently under review. I am aware the Department plans to conduct a public consultation on a draft version of the revised national ports policy in quarter 4 of this year, subject to the completion of the relevant associated environmental assessment of the draft documentation. Once complete, it is hoped to bring the revised NPP to Government in the first quarter of next year. Again, I thank Deputy Cullinane for highlighting the importance of the Port of Waterford. As he rightly said, it is of strategic importance to the south east.

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I agree that the submission of a planning application is obviously a very important first step and is a very clear statement of intent by Waterford Port in this area. The Minister of State echoed some points I made earlier by saying that Waterford should work closely with Rosslare Europort, and, indeed, Cork Port, because the DMAP for that whole area obviously creates huge opportunities for offshore renewable energy. While the planning application is going through, it is not a case then for the Department or Government to sit back. Now is the time to start planning. I have been calling, first, for the Government to designate Waterford Port as a regional ORE hub. That could be done and it would be important. Again, it would a statement of intent by Government and by the Department. There is a working group in place and I support and welcome that, but at this point it needs to be established into a much clearer multi-agency task force that can start to co-ordinate the planning, infrastructural investment and stakeholder engagement. It also needs to look at what will be needed down the road, which is a targeted funding stream for all of the upgrades and the buildings the Minister of State cited in his contribution. It also allows SETU to work with the port to invest in skills and training programmes for the south east. Therefore, there is a lot of potential, but the potential will only be realised if all of the stakeholders are working to a plan, which is why having a task force, with all of those stakeholders working to a strategy, makes sense. My fear is that the Government will say there is a planning application submitted and it will wait and see what happens with that before it comes to look at it. We may lose time. From my perspective, now is the time to take the bull by the horns. Let us get the work done and make sure, if the planning application is successful, that we can then immediately secure the funding and start the works needed.

I thank Deputy Cullinane again. I reiterate that Government remains committed to supporting our commercial State ports, including the Port of Waterford, in their plans to build enabling infrastructure for ORE. It is my understanding that the Department of Transport has established the ORE ports co-ordination group to facilitate discussion with both the commercial State ports and other ports and updates in the ORE sector. This group provides a forum for the Department to provide both Government and industry with presentations on the sectors and on the ports and allows the ports to raise any issues that may be of interest or concern to them that they may be encountering in their projects in their ports. This is in addition to the Department's role as a key member of the offshore wind delivery task force, which is chaired by the Minister for Transport and the recently established ORE Government clearing house hub, which is chaired by an Taoiseach. The Department is actively engaged with industry stakeholders with a view to maximising all potential financing options for ports, which includes financing partners such as the European Investment Bank, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, and the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland. Regarding our national ports policy, it is important to recognise that the draft is due for a second phase of public consultation very soon. I, as Minister of State, and all of my colleagues will welcome submissions from all interested parties on the development of a national ports policy during a second phase of the consultation. The point we are making is that the proposed developments at the Port of Waterford will build upon developments, for example, in the Port of Cork, link with the proposed developments in Rosslare Europort, and would provide us as a country with significant port infrastructure to allow us to meet our ambitious ORE targets. I assure the Deputy that we will be committed to this and Government will work with all the different interests. I thank him for raising the matter because it is a very important point.