Ministers Ryan and Lawless fully briefed and monitoring situation at Holyhead Port in Wales

Transport Ministers Eamon Ryan and James Lawless, as well as the Department of Transport, are actively engaging with stakeholders to address the challenges to freight and passenger travel to and from Holyhead Port, following damage caused during Storm Darragh last weekend.

This morning, both were fully briefed by Department Officials, the Irish Maritime Development Office (IMD), Dublin Port and Rosslare Europort to explore all possible solutions so that trade supplies and passenger traffic can be accommodated through alternative ports as effectively as possible.

From this week, additional capacity is being provided from Rosslare. Irish Ferries is assigning the WB Yeats to replace the Isle of Innisfree this week. This represents approximately 100% extra capacity. Stena Line Ferries has also introduced an additional sailing to Liverpool. While the Port of Cork currently has no direct UK sailings, it has indicated that it has the capacity to operate one sailing a day, possibly two, based on scheduling. The Ministers have also suggested that more Northern ports and routes could also be considered.

The Ministers will continue to engage with stakeholders over the weekend and intend to meet with Irish Ferries and Stena Line on Monday to ensure that there is optimal co-operation between companies so that freight, drivers and passengers can be accommodated ahead of the festive season.

Minister Lawless has written to his counterpart in the Welsh Assembly, Ken Skates, Cabinet Secretary for Transport and North Wales, to arrange a meeting. The Ministers will also write to the Secretary of State for Transport for the UK, Heidi Alexander.

As the Minister with special responsibility for Postal Policy, Minister Lawless has paid tribute to the work of An Post in recent days, for comprehensively reducing the backlog as a result of the ports closure with 350,000 parcels expected to arrive from the UK in the next 24 hours.