Thank you, Chair, and thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this debate. Although we are talking about concerns about the future of ports in all parts of Wales, as the Member representing Ynys Môn I’m sure you will forgive me for focusing on Holyhead, the ancient, proud, maritime town that developed into the main crossing point over the Irish sea since Telford brought the A5 there two centuries ago. Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, therefore, the port has grown. Some of my forefathers were among those who made their livelihoods serving the postal, goods and passenger ships. Well over 1,000 people are still employed directly in the port of Holyhead—far more in the wider economy are reliant on the port. Four and a half million tonnes of goods pass through annually. As we’ve heard, only Dover is bigger in terms of roll-on, roll-off services.

But, if Holyhead has been created and defined by its port in the past, there is no hiding the threats facing it now. Any barrier to the flow of vehicles and goods is a threat to the port of Holyhead, and is, therefore, a threat to the well-being of the people of Holyhead. Therefore, we need assurances in a number of areas. We know of the risk to trade if there are financial barriers in place. This raises some deep questions on the whole economy—tariffs and so on—and I’m surprised that the Conservative Member didn’t make reference to that. I will focus on two elements of this report that are of particular interest to me and are particularly pertinent to the future of Holyhead, namely the future of the Irish border and the future of the customs union.

If a hard border were created between Holyhead and Dublin, clearly it would become less attractive for people to travel and do business through Holyhead. We are talking about 2 million travellers, 0.5 million cars and 400,000 goods vehicles. As witnesses told the committee, the process of moving freight always follows the easiest route—the simplest route. Therefore, there’s a real concern that if there were a soft border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and a hard border between Wales and the Republic of Ireland, it would have a very negative impact on us. Irish Ferries said that could have serious economic impacts on Welsh ports, in terms of direct and indirect employment.

The other threat then, of course, is Britain leaving the customs union. We’ve already hear that since the creation of the European Union single market, or its completion in 1993, abolishing the toll checks between Wales and Ireland, the amount of cargo travelling between Holyhead and Dublin has increased incredibly—almost 700 per cent since the early 1990s. I am going to quote the concerns of two of the major shipping companies working from Holyhead—first, Paddy Walsh from Irish Ferries, who warns:

na allwn ddychwelyd at Weithdrefnau Tollau cyn 1993, pan oedd yn rhaid clirio’r holl gerbydau mewnforio ac allforio drwy’r tollau... Nid yn unig y mae maint y traffig wedi cynyddu’n sylweddol, ond mae’r broses gyfan o archebu a chyflenwi nwyddau wedi newid.

People are now ordering goods today and expecting them to be delivered tomorrow without having been stored in huge warehouses, as was the case in the past. Barriers at a port don’t fit into the modern way of trading. Ian Davies from Stena Line Ports says clearly that the growth of trade between Holyhead and Ireland happened because of the policies of open ports. There is a good balance, he says now, between goods and passengers:

Os tarfwch ar un o’r llifoedd hynny, rydych yn amharu ar y model busnes cyfan. Ac felly’r canlyniad, yn lle cael 28 croesiad y dydd, efallai y bydd gennych lawer iawn llai o gysylltedd â phorthladdoedd Cymru yn y pen draw.

That would be very bad news for the future of Holyhead. We would also need to change the structure of the port, if there were a need for new checks. Quite simply, according to the port managers, the space and the capacity simply aren’t there, and this was one of the conclusions of the committee too, and I was very pleased to see that included. This is what I was told:

Rhaid i’r Llywodraeth sylweddoli na allwn greu gofod ychwanegol allan o ddim yn y porthladd os gwelir bod angen gwiriadau tollau llawn ar y ffin.

In his evidence to the committee, Ian Davies from Stena Line said:

Mae gennym rai o’r llongau fferi mwyaf yn Ewrop yn dod i mewn... Byddai’r porthladd cyfan yn dod i stop... Nid yw’n ffisegol bosibl ei wneud yn y porthladdoedd ar hyn o bryd.

I am coming to a conclusion. I’m pleased that the Government accepts in principle the committee’s recommendation to outline how they intend to tackle this lack of capacity in Welsh ports, but I very much hope that we will get more meat on the bone from the Cabinet Secretary so that I can report back to the managers and staff of the port. We are facing a series of challenges here. It’s not just a proud history, but a confident and prosperous future that I want to see for the port of Holyhead.