Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe is to meet the board of Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company following confirmation by Stena Line that it is to end its ferry service at the south Co Dublin port.
The move marks the end of almost two centuries of ferry traffic from Dún Laoghaire to Holyhead and 20 years of the Stena Line-run service after its contract runs out on April 14th.
Mr Donohoe told Fine Gael TD Mary Mitchell-O’Connor he was aware the news would be a major disappointment to the community in Dún Laoghaire. He said he shared her disappointment at the end of an era. “I worked in Stena Line in Dún Laoghaire for two summers and have an understanding of how important the service is not only to Dún Laoghaire harbour but also to the broader community.”
Ms Mitchell-O’Connor called for a taskforce to be established on the harbour’s future. “We need to find solutions and stop dithering,” the Dún Laoghaire Deputy said. She urged the Minister to consider the harbour as a location for an international diaspora centre.
Proposals
She said detailed proposals had been submitted to the Government and the empty ferry terminal building “will be available immediately and the proposal makes commercial sense”. She added that it was “all very well for Dublin Port” for Stena Line to consolidate its business there, but asked: “What about Dún Laoghaire?”
She said the harbour company was developing its cruise-ship business. About 100,000 cruise passengers and crew were expected this year, but more was needed.
Ms Mitchell-O’Connor pointed to the designation of the harbour in March last year for marine leisure tourism, “and yet nothing has happened”.
Mr Donohoe told her he would like to meet the board first before the establishment of a taskforce. He believed the best way to respond was by the “firm integration of the port with the local authority and everybody working in unison to respond to this challenge”.
He expects to introduce legislation before the summer, which would transfer the harbour to more appropriate local authority-led governance structures.
As for the international diaspora centre, Mr Donohoe said this issue had been raised with him by many colleagues, and “many different groups across the country believe it should be located in various places”.
He said: “I am weighing up how that can be responded to, but . . . a cornerstone of our response to what is happening to the port is supporting people in finding diverse and wide-ranging sources of income.”
He would meet the harbour board to have a “discussion about what has happened, and we will see if mutually agreeable next steps can be made”.
