There is “no point” having Ireland’s main port in Dublin and it should instead be moved to Portlaoise in the Midlands, property developper Harry Crosbie has said. 

Last year, 7,473 ships arrived into Dublin Port, carrying 36.7 million tonnes of goods for Irish consumers.

By contrast, Cork, the nation’s second busiest, only handled 10.6 million tonnes in 2021.

Speaking to The Hard Shoulder, Mr Crosbie it makes no sense for the congested capital city to handle so much trade.

“99% of cargo now goes onto containers,” he said.

“Containers [are] landed on the ground in the middle of Dublin; there’s no need for that.

“Dublin is one of the few ports that has mainline tracks running right down alongside the ships.

“They could be landed on bogies and run out and the Port of Ireland should be in Portlaoise - in the middle of Ireland.

“So, the trains would be running day and night up and down.”

Dublin Port. Image: Alamy.com

Mr Crosbie said the idea is not “new” and nor is it radical, insisting that many European countries locate their main national port inland.

“This is done in Germany, it’s done in Holland, it’s done in Sweden - I’ve seen [how it’s] done,” he said.

“The port becomes a central inland and the containers are [moved by] constant trains running up and down.

“Instead of the port being the shape of a huge donut taking up 600 or 700 acres, it could become a slim line.”

'It’s just waiting to happen'

Mr Crosbie said this would radically alter the geography of Dublin and dramatically improve people’s quality of life.

“It could release hundreds and hundreds of acres for living in what would be the best part of the city because you’d be down at the sea.

“You’d have new beaches and it’s just waiting to happen.

“It won’t happen in my lifetime but it will happen; there is absolutely no point in having a container full of cheap teddy bears from China sitting in the best part of Dublin for maybe a month when people should be living there.”

Main image: Dublin Port. Picture by: Alamy.com