Other Members’ Questions

I wish to raise the future of Galway Port with the Minister this morning. I believe he has an important role to play, as Minister for Public expenditure and due to his previous role as Minister of State at the Department of Transport who had responsibility for ports and who visited and engaged with Galway Port CEOs, the harbourmaster and the chairs of the Galway Port company over the years. Under the national ports policy 2013 Galway Harbour Company transferred ownership to Galway City Council. The transfer changed the shareholder but did not resolve Galway Port's long-term place in the national port system. This year Galway Port received planning permission for its ambitious but realistic extension and relocation plans, which will include a rail link and will cater for larger cargo ships, including naval berth, allow for easier and safer access for cruise ships, free up land for housing in the inner harbour, provide additional leisure and recreational land, have a positive impact on the city council's rates base and protect the city from flooding surges. I am sure the Minister will agree that all of these are positive. However, the draft ports policy, which ended its public consultation at the end of August, continues to include Galway Port as a port of regional significance only. Why is Galway the exception among Ireland's port cities? Dublin, Cork and Waterford are included as national ports, as is Limerick via Foynes. What is the funding route for Galway Harbour Company's extension shortfall? It has its own resources and it can sell land and draw down a loan, but there will be a shortfall as the Minister is aware. Will the ports policy accept that Galway has huge international demand from cruise ships, with bookings extending into 2033? In its submission Galway City Council stated local authority-owned ports should have equal access to State, EU and blended funding where projects satisfy transparent criteria and deliver national, regional or public value. Equal access does not mean that every project should be funded but it means that projects should be assessed on their own merits rather than excluded because of ownership, in this case local authority ownership, or port classification, in this case as a regional port. Galway Port is, since the last ports policy, part of the EU TEN-T comprehensive network and this recognition should have practical consequences in national investment planning, infrastructure development and access to appropriate funding. Galway City Council's request is that the final ports policy should explicitly state the future role of Galway Port in the national commercial port and TEN-T networks. The policy should also confirm that all ports within its scope, including local authority-owned ports and TEN-T ports, that are not ports of national significance, may access Exchequer, European and blended finance through transparent project-based criteria. This must include an Exchequer funding route for maritime safety, access and resilience infrastructure where the wider public benefits cannot be funded from port revenues only.

I thank Deputy Kyne for raising this important issue. I am very familiar with the Port of Galway, having visited it many times in my role as a Minister of State at the Department of Transport. I know the ambition in the port to grow, as well as the Deputy's wider work in Galway West over the last number of years to bring that to fruition. As the Deputy knows, the draft revision of the national ports policy, for which the second public consultation period ended on 28 August, confirms the importance of the Galway Harbour Company and other ports of regional significance to their immediate hinterlands and, crucially, to supporting balanced regional development. It is supportive of all ports of national and regional significance in maximising their contribution to meeting the needs of the State. The wider programme for Government commits to supporting investment in our commercial and passenger port infrastructure through that national ports policy. We approved that new policy as a Government on 16 June and it encourages all ports with commercial activity not only to contribute to the facilitation of trade but also to support renewable energy, energy security, climate adaptation and decarbonisation goals, both within their regions and across the State as a whole. In this context, I welcome An Coimisiún Pleanála's decision in April of this year to grant planning permission for the extension of the Port of Galway, marking a significant infrastructural milestone for Galway city and the wider west of Ireland. To the Deputy's point, this project represents a very positive example of ambition and growth and the necessity for balanced regional development. The Minister for Transport has advised me, though, that 91 written submissions were made during the recent consultation on the draft revision of the national ports policy, including from the Galway Harbour Company, Galway City Council and Galway County Council. These are currently being assessed by the Department of Transport. It is the intention of the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, to submit a final draft of the policy to the Government by the end of the year. With our new national ports policy, we are trying to ensure that our ports are that growth centre for renewable energy and the intensification of housing supply and to ensure that we build that regeneration, which is possible. Obviously, there will have to be choices around how we allocate capital to that, which is something for the Government to consider when the new national ports policy is developed. It has much more ambition than where the national ports policy sits today. I know it was significantly constraining, particularly for regional ports across our country. They may not have been able to develop in line with their wider ambition up to now. I think the new ports policy will be a catalyst for much greater economic development for ports of regional significance. We will have to make choices on what the funding for that will be, but, between the continued work to get planning permission in respect of development and the finalisation of the new national ports policy, it will represent an important ability to follow through on that wider ambition for the Port of Galway.

I thank the Minister for his response. He spoke about renewable energy. The Port of Galway presently handles about 20% of Ireland's onshore wind development components. Unfortunately, the Port of Galway has been judged by its existing tonnage capability rather than what it can achieve and will achieve in its new port extension. It was a different world and a different era back in 2013. Many people, including members of the Minister's own party, quite rightly criticised that ports policy, but it is continuing now in the draft policy. That mistake is continuing on now in the draft policy. My request to the Minister, the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Minister for Transport and the Minister of State with responsibility for ports in the Department of Transport, is that it be ensured that the next and final policy delivers for the Port of Galway and for Galway city. It has to deliver for the Port of Galway and for Galway city.

In the first instance, the ports policy is seeking to prioritise the commercial aspect of each port of national or regional significance. That is an important principle and discipline across how we manage all our ports. It also speaks to wider that ambition which may not have been reflected previously and the potential of ports around renewable energy, energy security and other issues, which may not have been assessed to the same extent at the time of the previous ports policy. This is why the further consultation was ongoing and why we want to continue that engagement on the draft ports policy. It still has to come back to the Government for a final decision by the end of the year. As per the programme for Government and the commitment to develop a new national ports policy, we are clear that we do want to ensure that the momentum in infrastructural development and balanced regional development happens in the Port of Galway and across the west of Ireland, with its huge potential for renewable energy. We want to fulfil that ambition through this ports policy.