Ports Policy
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-11
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David Cullinane (SF), Waterford

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.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-11