Mark Hooper MS, Deputy Minister for Transport
I visited Ireland on 9-10 September for a bilateral with Minister Sean Canney, Government of Ireland.
My visit was an action from the recent Ireland-Wales Forum to deliver a Ministerial bilateral on Transport matters to address concerns and resilience around the Dublin- Holyhead sea route. Connectivity and resilience are key priorities for cooperation between Wales and Ireland as set out in the Ireland-Wales Shared Statement.
I had a very constructive discussion with Minister Canney about the vital role our ports play in supporting connectivity between our nations and we agreed to work together on our shared commitment to strengthening transport connectivity and resilience between our nations. The meeting served to further strengthen the long-standing good relationship and ties between our two countries. The visit also provided me with the opportunity for a ports focused programme of activity, ahead of the winter sailing season, and potential storms. Building positive working relationships with key stakeholders as part of resilience planning against the possibility of potential port closures on both sides of the Irish Sea.
My programme started on the first day with a tour of Fishguard Port before boarding the Stena Nordica to cross the Irish sea to Rosslare Port for a tour of their operations. Following the meeting with Minister Canney, on day two I had the opportunity to visit Dublin Port before meeting with Irish Ferries and then Dixon one of Ireland’s leading temperature-controlled logistics companies. I heard first-hand how the closure of the Port of Holyhead back in December 2024 impacted their business and gained some valuable insight into how they run their operations. Ending my visit to Ireland by meeting with Irish Maritime Development Office, who advise the Irish Government on maritime policy. The visit to Ireland followed my recent tour of Holyhead port over the summer. I have gained such valuable insight into how all these operations are run and how the Irish sea routes are so important for critical supply chains and to the Irish, Welsh & UK Economies.
Which leads me to the purposes of creating the Irish Sea Taskforce which was to examine what could be done to avoid a repeat scenario and mitigate if similar events happened again in Holyhead or at any other Welsh Port. These key stakeholders, together with others I have met on both sides of the Irish sea over the summer and early autumn, have contributed to and provided input into the six-month update to the Irish Sea taskforce recommendations, which I intend to publish shortly alongside a written statement.