Independent TD for Offaly, Carol Nolan, has said that the withdrawal of Brittany Ferries from the Rosslare–France live export route has exposed the “troubling reality that Ireland has no coherent national strategy to protect the live export routes that underpin farm incomes and rural economic stability.”
Deputy Nolan, who has already written to Minister Martin Heydon seeking urgent clarity for farmers and exporters, said the State’s response to date has been one of “reactive but not necessarily reassuring sympathy.”
“The debate cannot be reduced to a question of whether Irish Ferries can absorb the additional demand or whether technical issues around calf feeding can be resolved, important as those elements are. They are in fact symptoms of a much larger problem, namely, that Ireland has allowed a critical part of its agri‑food supply chain to become entirely dependent on the commercial decisions of private operators, without any long‑term planning or resilience measures in place,” Deputy Nolan said.
“Farmers and exporters are now facing the consequences of a system that has been left to drift for years. When a single operator withdraws, the entire sector is thrown into uncertainty. That is a strategic vulnerability that threatens market access and the livelihoods of farm families across this country.”
Deputy Nolan said that while some public representatives have focused on retaining existing services, the real challenge is to confront the structural weakness that has been allowed to develop.
“Ireland must treat live export routes with the same seriousness as other forms of strategic infrastructure. Without that shift in thinking, farmers will continue to be exposed to sudden shocks that undermine confidence and depress prices.”
“We cannot continue pretending that live export routes are simply private commercial matters. They are essential arteries of rural economic life.”
“When those arteries are weakened or disrupted, the impact is felt immediately. The State has a responsibility to ensure that these routes are resilient, competitive, and protected from the kind of single‑operator dependency and de facto monopoly we now face.”
Deputy Nolan said the Government must move beyond short‑term assurances and commit to a National Export Resilience Plan that sets out how capacity will be guaranteed, how competition will be maintained, and how Ireland will ensure uninterrupted access to EU markets regardless of commercial fluctuations. She said such a plan should include structured engagement with operators, targeted incentives to attract additional services, and a clear framework for monitoring risks before they become crises:
“Until the State recognises that, we will continue lurching from one disruption to the next,” concluded Deputy Nolan.