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Dublin port seeks views on its future

[ March 22, 2021   //   ]

Dublin Port Company (DPC) is inviting alternative views on post-2040 port capacity as it prepares the third and final strategic infrastructure development project which will deliver the full capacity envisaged in the Dublin Port Masterplan 2040.
Ireland’s main port will reach its maximum throughput some time between 2030 and 2040and additional port capacity will be needed elsewhere on the east coast of Ireland to cater for the growth.
On the basis that building large new infrastructure takes twenty years or more from concept to completion, DPC is now beginning to plan the projects that will be needed if this additional capacity is to be available by 2040.
It says that final development projects at Dublin Port and projects to deliver new port capacity elsewhere are both very challenging and it is important that there is an opportunity for informed debate and discussion on the environmental, planning and financing challenges which these projects create.
These challenges have been documented in a series of seven papers called the Dublin Port Post 2040 Dialogue (https://www.dublinportpost2040dialogue.ie/) The port says that the papers present a considered view on the potential costs and the environmental impacts of building new greenfield port facilities elsewhere on the east coast of Ireland.
DPC recognises that alternative viewpoints exist including a long-held view that Dublin Port should be moved from its current location, something it has consistently rejected over the years. In the Dialogue papers, DPC says this that not only would this cost €8.3 billion but it would be near impossible to get planning permission because of the environmental impact.
DPC chief executive Eamonn O’Reilly, said: “We need to plan for how, when and where additional port capacity might be provided on the east coast of Ireland by 2040. We know from experience that twenty years is a relatively short period in the context of delivering large scale infrastructure projects, let alone a once in 200 years megaproject, which the construction of a new additional greenfield port would be.
“Consideration of any plan of this scale must take account of as wide a spectrum of viewpoints as possible. That is what the Dublin Port Post 2040 Dialogue is designed to facilitate, and I would encourage people and organisations to get involved. This is everyone’s opportunity to help answer important questions in the national interest about the environmental, planning and financial challenges that lie ahead in providing the future port capacity needed for the long-term.
“Our canvassing of views on the long-term provision of port capacity once Dublin Port reaches its limit some time between 2030 and 2040 coincides with DCC’s preparation of the Dublin City Development Plan 2022-2028, with NTA’s review of the Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area to cover the period 2022-2042 and with Government’s review of the National Development Plan as part of Project Ireland 2040. Ensuring there is enough port capacity for the decades and even centuries ahead requires coherence and co-ordination among all these plans and strategies.”

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