[4] It handles passenger and freight ferries to and from Cherbourg, Dunkirk, St Malo and Roscoff, in France, Bilbao in Spain and Fishguard and Pembroke Dock in the United Kingdom.

Since July 2022, a new freight route between Rosslare and Zeebrugge, Belgium was introduced by Finnlines (Grimaldi Group) for a twice weekly ro-ro service between the two ports.

As a result of Brexit, the port is expanding rapidly, providing new or increased direct sailings with extra capacity from Ireland to mainland Europe.

[5] The direct routes between Ireland and the continent allow freight transport firms to bypass the UK land bridge, in case there is severe congestion at British ports.

Wexford politicians Verona Murphy and James Browne maintain that if Rosslare is to take advantage of its new market opportunities and undergo radical expansion to handle container traffic, this will require large-scale investment.

According to Glenn Carr, Europort General Manager, the Dunkirk route is quicker than using the British landbridge taking account of the paperwork and customs checks caused by Brexit.

[20] From July 2022, a new freight route between Rosslare and Zeebrugge, Belgium was introduced by Finnlines, part of the Grimaldi Group, for a twice weekly ro-ro service between the two ports.

It appears that there is substantial demand from industry (manufacturers and producers) to use direct sailings to avoid the practical difficulties of using the landbridge such as documentation, redtape, inspections, and the need to use several IT systems.

[29][30] Existing facilities in the terminal building include a cafe with shop, ferry company desks, car rental, and self-service left-luggage lockers.

[32] An all-weather RNLI lifeboat is on station, and the Irish Coast Guard helicopter at Waterford Airport provides air-sea rescue cover.

[36] The Rosslare Europort ferry connection using Stena Line to Fishguard Harbour and then by train operated by Transport for Wales to Carmarthen, Swansea and Cardiff links into Great Western Railway services to Bristol Parkway, Reading and London Paddington.

Trains connect the port on the Rosslare Line via Wexford, Enniscorthy, Gorey, Arklow, Wicklow, Bray to Dublin Connolly.

[38] It is intended to use technology to create Ireland's smartest digital and automated Port so that the Europort will meet all customs and Brexit requirements for state agencies.

The Irish government has said it will invest more in ports like Rosslare as businesses seek certainty amidst the confusion caused by Brexit.

[7] The Europort’s Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) project received a major boost with the announcement of €2.5m in EU funding under the European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).

[40] In April 2023, the Irish Government approved a major capital investment programme at Rosslare Europort for the expansion of Terminal 7 at Rosslare including redeveloping the existing site and demolishing many existing buildings to allow for the construction of a new border control post, which will include new buildings and associated external site infrastructure.

[41] In total, as of April 2023, €350 million is set to be invested in the Offshore Renewable Energy, the infrastructure plans, the port Masterplan, digitilisation and the N25 Rosslare Europort Access Road.

In a press release of 8 March 2021, the competent authority stated that it is anticipated that the project could proceed through the statutory planning processes by the end of 2022 at the earliest.

This could hinder significantly the development of Rosslare Europe, despite the European and national strategic importance of completing this stretch of road.

[citation needed] A very serious question mark has arisen over the ability or willingness of the local authority officials to prioritise and construct the new infrastructure at pace.

Mr Dobbs stated a specialist team was investigating rail infrastructure, due to revived interest in the Waterford to Rosslare railway line, even though this was outside the scope of the N11/N25 project (Cllr Carthy also criticised this new focus).

[46] The success of Rosslare Europort is already creating some road congestion in South Wexford and a further increase in traffic without adequate timely infrastructure being put in place could provoke tension.

[48] The importance of the Rosslare direct routes was dramatically highlighted following the confusion and disruption in the southeast of England after France closed its border to freight from the UK on 20 December 2020, leaving up to 250 Irish trucks stranded in Britain trying to access mainland Europe using the landbridge to the continent.

Companies using the direct Rosslare routes to the EU are obviously not subject to these onerous, time-consuming procedures which require heavy investment in new IT and trained staff.

This had been predicted just before Brexit by the Irish Road Haulage Assocìation to a hearing of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport, particularly as regards time-sensitive loads such as food but also as regards insufficient capacity generally even with the new services.

[68] One user, Amazon, is now routinely sending around 20 trailers on every sailing from Dunkirk to service the Irish market and "to avoid the complications, tariffs, taxes and general headaches that have now become associated with the 'landbridge' between the UK and Ireland".

[71] The BBC has noted that since Brexit, by end February 2021, about 160 new jobs had already been created at Rosslare by government agencies, shipping lines and the port authority itself, and extra business has been generated for local garages and cafes.

By contrast Rosslare Europort has a landbank of 100 acres of adjacent land for development, has virtually unlimited parking and its permanent inspection posts will all be located within the Port area itself.

He cited Dublin traffic congestion, time wastage, NOx emissions and Rosslare's geographical position as the closest Irish port to mainland Europe, providing a viable alternative to the UK land bridge.

The time spent by trailers and containers in the port, he believed could be greatly reduced by having all inspections for a shipment carried out in the same location (bringing the inspectors to the freight rather than vice versa, as is currently the case).