Minister of State at the Department of Transport, James Lawless, has said that it is a case of hoping for the best but planning for the worst when it comes to any potential opening next week of the berth at Holyhead in Wales.
Holyhead port sustained substantial damage in Storm Darragh on December 6th last when 94mph gusts battered parts of the UK.
In an interview on Saturday with Colm Ó Mongáin, on RTÉ Radio 1, Mr Lawless said that if the repair “comes good, great” but we cannot rely on it all going to plan in Holyhead next week.
“I think it would be remiss of me and any of the actors including the private sector and the ferry companies and everybody else to work along a belief that everything would be fine, everything will be all right on the night, next Thursday or next Friday even,” he said.
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“The initial estimates coming out of Holyhead were ‘look we will be okay in 24 hours.’ And that became 48 hours and that became 72 hours and on Wednesday I said ‘Look what is really going on here?’
“And at that stage they said they would have it open on Friday. And Friday has come and gone. Their latest estimate now is a week away.”
Mr Lawless said Holyhead has two berths, one on either side, which can take two vessels at a time.
“The damage was done to one pillar on one edge of one jetty. So there are questions being asked as to why the other jetty is closed.
“There are underwater crews investigating it, and if that comes good, great, but we need to focus in the intervening time on other routes.”
Mr Lawless said that there is a limit to what he can do. However, he has signed a derogation order on driver hours for the next fortnight, which, he believes “might give some leeway to the haulage industry”.
Mr Lawless said that typically 33,000 vehicles would come across from Holyhead to Dublin in the Christmas period.
“It is about 100,000 passengers, over half of them would come by car, but some would come on foot.
“I’ve said to the NTA and my Welsh counterparts that we need to make sure that sufficient public transport is in place, so if your typical foot passenger is trying to make that journey next week, that there will be a bus service in place.”
Meanwhile, additional capacity is being provided from Rosslare. Irish Ferries is assigning the WB Yeats to replace the Isle of Innisfree this week.
Stena Line Ferries has also introduced an additional sailing to Liverpool.
While the Port of Cork has no direct UK sailings, it has indicated that it has the capacity to operate one sailing a day, possibly two, based on scheduling.
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