Pressure on from Mayo to reverse 'disgraceful' Dublin Port decision

The decision by Dublin Port to suspend taking freight by rail from Ballina has been described as 'disgraceful' by a Mayo County Council official.

Tom Gilligan, the director of services for Ballina Municipal District, made his comment at the annual meeting of the authority, which was held at the Kennedy Glasgow Building at Ballina Quay today.

The newly elected Cathaoirleach, Councillor Annie May Reape, had listed as one of her key priorities getting Dublin Port to reverse their decision, which came out of the blue recently, and Mr. Gilligan said he would be 100% behind her in that.

“A disgraceful decision was taken in relation to the discontinuation of the freight service from Ballina and we have to keep the fight going to make sure the decision is reversed,” Mr. Gilligan stated.

Councillor Reape's fellow council members also supported her call, while she noted that her Fianna Fáil party colleague Deputy Dara Calleary had raised the matter in the Dáil yesterday evening (Tuesday).

In that debate, Deputy Calleary said: “It is ridiculous that Dublin Port, the biggest port in the country, is no longer open to rail freight. We passed the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021 in this House last week, during which debate we heard much talk about lowering emissions. We are failing to lower emissions yet a freight service which catered for between five and seven freight trains per week and took freight off the road is stopped. There does not appear to be a huge amount of urgency in terms of resolving the issue.”

The rail freight service from Ballina railway station to Dublin Port normally takes between five and seven freight trains per week, servicing some of the biggest industries in the west, and is a core part of our attractiveness as a location to invest in Ballina, Deputy Calleary said.

He added: “I know that work is under way and that the Department of Transport is engaging. It is a very minor operational issue. Dublin Port is engaging with International Warehousing and Transport, IWT, and Irish Rail but urgency is needed.”

In response, the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Malcolm Noonan, said that both the Minister, Eamon Ryan, and the Minister of State, Hildegarde Naughton, at the Department of Transport both strongly believe in the potential of rail freight and think it can play a bigger role in freight transport generally on this island, and both have spoken specifically on the potential for rail freight in the west.

Specifically on Dublin Port, operational issues have arisen involving two private companies with regard to the facilitation of rail freight services there. This relates to capacity constraints that have occurred in a lo-lo (lift on, lift off) terminal in the port that are impacting on the rail services.

“The Minister and Minister of State are aware that discussions are ongoing at present with the stakeholders involved, including two private companies along with Irish Rail and Dublin Port, to explore options to resolve these issues. They strongly urge all parties involved to engage constructively in this dialogue to ensure the continuation of the rail services into the port now and into the future,” Minister Noonan said.

'Incredibly disappointing'

Deputy Calleary said he found the response 'incredibly disappointing'.

“This is typical of the Department's view of rail transport. We are being subjected to another strategic rail review. A rail committee in the west today published a report by Dr. John Bradley, formerly of the ESRI, into the viability of the western rail corridor. This debunks entirely the taxpayer-funded EY report, paid for and commissioned by the Department. That a private, volunteer-led organisation could debunk a State report entirely says volumes about the lack of commitment in the Department of Transport with regard to rail freight and rail transport.”

He added: “We have a service that works well and which has massive potential but it has been stalled for reasons that have nothing to do with the service itself but, rather, with Dublin Port and the constraints there. I accept that Brexit is a challenge and that there have been other challenges at the port in recent weeks, but the Brexit referendum was held five years ago. There was time to put all of these things in place. Given the size of Dublin Port, surely space and priority should have been given to rail freight if it is a priority.”

Minister Noonan said it was important to point out that neither the Minister for Transport nor the Department is directly involved in decisions taken by the privately operated terminal at Dublin Port, but he added that Minister Ryan is 'very concerned' that the question of the continuation of rail services into the port should arise at a time when the focus is on ensuring transport modes are environmentally, economically and socially sustainable.

Work on the review – described as one of the 'most significant reviews of the rail network on the island in many years' that will provide a framework to develop a much-improved rail network in the years ahead – is expected to commence by the summer and take 12 months to complete.