Omission of investment in Rosslare in national plan must be reversed- Howlin

Labour Party leader and Wexford TD Brendan Howlin has said the omission of investment in Rosslare Europort in the National Plan has to be reversed.

Deputy Howlin raised the issue with the Taoiseach in the Dáil today.

Deputy Howlin commented:

“The lack of investment for Rosslare Europort in the Government’s strategy 2040 is astonishing.

“In the context of Brexit, where there’s a real potential threat to the land bridge from Ireland to continental Europe via the UK, it must have occurred to the Government that we needed to invest in our designated Europort.

“When I questioned the Taoiseach in the Dáil today on why Rosslare Europort got no commitment for further investment, he replied that the owners of the port, Irish Rail, made no proposals to Government in relation to Rosslare.

“The Taoiseach further said that the Government wanted to make mention of the port and in the absence of any proposals from Irish Rail they simply tabled a further review.

“Quite frankly, this is entirely unacceptable.

“If we take the threat from Brexit to our economic wellbeing seriously, if we are determined to prepare our nation to continue to have ready access to our export markets, then we have to give priority both to port investment and to the access routes to our ports.”