In a confidential discussion document prepared by the Irish Ports Association (IPA) cite that the Exchequer should provide money for infrastructure development at Ireland's commercial ports.

The draft document, circulated amongst port CEOs last week, heavily criticises Government policy on Irish ports as both "misguided" and "naive".

The document, seen by the Sunday Independent, highlights what it describes as an "excessive focus on EU grants" in national ports policy introduced in 2013 by then-Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar that continued a ban on the use of Exchequer funding for major infrastructure to cope with capacity constraints at major ports like Dublin and Rosslare.

"This [the ban on State funding] will have to change if Irish ports are to provide the capacity that will be needed in the future," it states, adding that port infrastructure projects do not make commercial sense but do make economic sense.

More on this Independent.ie reports 

This year's Irish Ports Conference is to be hosted by Rosslare Europort on behalf of the Irish Port Association (IPA) and is to take place in Wexford on 30th September.

The event is the only one of its kind in Ireland this year where senior representatives from short-sea users, carriers, ports, logistics providers and the whole range of service providers meet to debate the topical issues of the day.

In addition the full-day conference provides those to network and explore further business opportunities and will culminate with the IPA's conference banquet.

The south-eastern ferry-port is to host delegates in the Ferrycarrig Hotel, just outside Wexford. For further information on booking and a (PDF) programme of the day visit the Rosslare Europort website by clicking HERE