The Ports, Past and Present Project celebrates five unique ports in the Irish Sea. Over the past five years, a collaborative team from Ireland and Wales have researched and explored, Dublin Port, Fishguard, Holyhead, Pembroke Dock and Rosslare Harbour. Working with the local community in each port, they have written 250 compelling stories, created five films and developed an innovative app to help people discover these fascinating port places. The team also commissioned twelve artists to devise creative responses to the ports, works of imagination that have taken the form of books, photographs, poems, paintings, plays, and sculpture.
All of these creative and cultural outputs are now available to explore and discover here
This rich treasure trove of resources is available to tourists planning journeys to, or through, the ports and to tourism businesses who want to promote their areas as great places to spend time. An Irish Sea tourism business network has been set up as part of the project to support collaboration and discover synergies at either side of the ferry crossing.
Ports, Past and Present is a cross-border initiative between Higher Education Institutions in Wales and the Republic of Ireland, including University College Cork, Aberystwyth University, the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies/University of Wales Trinity St David alongside a local authority, Wexford County Council, in the Republic of Ireland funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Ireland Wales Co-operation Programme.
The Ports, Past and Present Project comes to an end in July, and it is planned that the many resources and relationships created during the last five years will live on and support tourism development in the five ports for many years to come.
Claire Connolly, Professor of English at UCC, and project lead, said: “The Ports, Past and Present Project has engaged with and learned from community stakeholders, heritage enthusiasts and tourism businesses across the Irish Sea. We have made films, told stories, and developed online resources, including a Port Places app. Our legacy is bound up with the Irish Sea itself: an enduring presence that continues to shape our cultural, political and environmental histories.”
Mary-Ann Constantine, Professor at the Centre for Advanced Celtic Studies (University of Wales St David) said: “Welsh-Irish connections run deep. Ports, Past and Present, testifies to the lasting power of cultural exchange across the space of the Irish Sea. It reimagines that space, often perceived as empty or divisive, as criss-crossed by stories, and connected by people's lives. The project has also helped to make Wales and Ireland more visible to each other as distinct cultural entities. At a time of political and national repositioning, it has been a pleasure to work with Irish colleagues to affirm those deep connections.’
