With the country in the midst of a housing crisis, it has long been argued that Dublin Port should be relocated further up the coast to free up its huge land bank for thousands of new homes.
At face value, the idea appears to make sense. Dublin Port occupies a prime location on the edge of the docklands, close to the city centre, and is forecast to hit capacity by 2040, with little room for further expansion.
Given congestion issues, it is increasingly difficult to put half of the country’s trade through the port, it is also argued.
Don’t hold your breadth on any progress with that idea. A draft review of national ports policy knocks the idea squarely on the head.
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“A simultaneous relocation of Dublin Port, and all of the land-based infrastructure that serves the port, along with the significant expansion of national port capacity required to facilitate trade post-2040 would be both implausible and impractical,” the review states.
It cites the results of a previous review of “stakeholders” about the location of Dublin Port.
Of the 79 responses, just five suggested there was a compelling case to relocate Dublin Port and even they “attached significant caveats”.
In short, building additional national ports capacity to take account of the fact that Dublin will be full by 2040 will be enough of a task without also relocating the vast facilities currently situated in the capital.
The ports review, however, has concluded that a new deepwater port is needed on the east coast to help handle trade post-2040.
This is potentially good news for property developer Johnny Ronan and Drogheda Port Company, which jointly own Bremore port in Co Louth.
Bremore was once touted as an alternative to Dublin Port, freeing it up for housing. Then the crash came in 2008.
Ronan and his partners now see a new opportunity for Bremore from the latest review.
In a statement on Friday, Rory Williams, chief executive of Ronan Group Real Estate, said it could “create substantial new employment opportunities, support balanced regional development and reduce commuting pressures across the northeast”.
Any plan to put housing on Dublin Port, meanwhile, will have to wait. Probably for decades.
