The following is taken from a Dublin Port press release on the 31.03.21
Dublin Port is the country’s largest and most important port and is being developed to its ultimate capacity based on the finite and defined set of project options set out in Masterplan 2040. These options will bring the port to its ultimate capacity by 2040 some 333 years after the establishment of Dublin’s first port authority, the Ballast Office Committee. Dublin Port is, today, owned and operated by Dublin Port Company (DPC). DPC is the fourth port authority in Dublin Port’s long history and is a self-financing private commercial company owned by the State.
Once Dublin Port has reached its capacity limit by 2040, any continued growth in port volumes after 2040 will require additional facilities at another east coast location, either by expansion of existing ports or by the greenfield development of a new port or by a combination of both.
The development of substantial new port capacity will be a major and challenging undertaking and, based on the experience of major infrastructure projects both in Ireland and elsewhere, will take a long time to complete. DPC believes that it is prudent to plan on the basis of a 20 year time horizon. The work to develop new additional port capacity to be available in 2040 needs to start now in 2020.
The Dublin Port Post 2040 Dialogue presents DPC’s views on the nature and scale of the development that might be required by 2040. These views are founded on the implicit acceptance of the development path set out in Masterplan 2040 to continue to develop Dublin Port where it is until it reaches its full capacity and to continue to operate this capacity long after 2040. These views are set out in a series of papers based on the detailed knowledge and understanding developed within DPC in recent years through the delivery of major infrastructure projects in Dublin Port.
However, there are alternative viewpoints suggesting that Dublin Port should be moved from its current location. DPC has consistently rejected this idea.
The Dublin Port Post 2040 Dialogue commences with detailed and, at times, technical explanations of DPC’s thinking. These are presented as a challenge to those who believe that DPC’s development path is wrong. DPC invites others to critique the port company’s thinking by way of substantive papers setting out the rationale for their alternative viewpoints. We will publish these different ideas on this web site as a basis for public discussion and debate during 2021.
The major developments under MasterPlan 2040 and any developments to provide capacity post 2040 require planning permissions from An Bord Pleanála and other consents from the State or State agencies (notably the EPA).
The Dublin Port Post 2040 Dialogue is an opportunity to show us that our thinking is wrong, if it is wrong. By requesting and publishing alternative detailed arguments about how Dublin Port should be developed, DPC will be obliged to take account of these arguments in environmental assessments of any future projects the company presents in order to secure development consents.
The first paper presented by DPC addresses the basic question –
Why Dublin Port is where it is
The Dublin Port Post 2040 Dialogue is an opportunity to contribute to the long term planning of essential port infrastructure for Dublin. If you would like to be a part of this dialogue, please send your ideas and thoughts to: post2040@dublinport.ie
