THE closure of Holyhead Port over Christmas has caused “heartache” for Irish people in Britain who had planned to go home for the festive period.
All sailings have been cancelled at the port since December 7, after Storm Darragh caused significant damage to two of the port’s berths.
The Welsh Government has since confirmed that the port, which provides the main sea route between North Wales and Dublin, will not open before January 15 at the earliest, due to the work which needs to be undertaken to make the site safe and operational again.
Hundreds of sailings have been cancelled as a result, with Irish Ferries and Stena Line, who both operate busy ferry services between Holyhead and Dublin, forced to try and accommodate those with bookings on alternative services, with many unable to make their planned trip home to Ireland for Christmas.
The closure has severely impacted trade too, with goods due to arrive in Ireland via boat also held up.
Taoiseach Simon Harris spoke with First Minister of Wales Eluned Morgan about the “serious impact of the ongoing closure” of the port this week.
“The closure of Holyhead port has caused a lot of heartache and disruption for people and traders this Christmas,” Mr Harris said.
“I took the opportunity to take stock of the situation with the First Minister of Wales, Eluned Morgan,” he explained.
“We discussed the importance to both Wales and Ireland of ensuring sufficient port capacity to support vital supply chains between Ireland and the UK, and the need to find workable alternatives for as long as Holyhead remains out of commission.
“We expressed a shared wish to see Holyhead return to operation in January, and we agreed to speak again in early January to review matters at that point.”
Yesterday Ireland’s Transport Minister Eamon Ryan and Minister of State James Lawless met with stakeholders in the freight, supply chain, ports and maritime sectors to discuss alternative routes to replace the Holyhead-Dublin services.
“The focus remains on securing viable additional routes and vessels with sufficient capacity to support the steady movement of both goods and people between Ireland and the UK during the period of Holyhead Port closure,” the Department of Tranposrt said in a statement.
"The government is treating the closure of Holyhead Port with absolute priority,” they added.
Additional routes and services from Dublin to Liverpool, Dublin to Heysham, Dublin to Fishguard and from Belfast to Cairnryan have already been put in place to compensate for the losses through Holyhead.
“Our department will continue to monitor the situation over the holidays,” Minister Ryan said.
“Our key focus is on ensuring that there is a resilient solution to the difficulties caused by the damage to Holyhead Port.”
He added: “We will continue to work with the UK and Welsh governments to help secure additional berths in alternative ports, and we expect to get clarity on the state of play at Holyhead from Stena by mid-January.
“As we assess the impact of this situation, the one thing we all need is clear, accurate and real-time information so that we can respond quickly and appropriately to keep goods and people flowing between our two countries.”
