The work of NITL’s Edward Sweeney was acknowledged by Northern Ireland Minister for Regional Development in a recent speech. Conor Murphy, MP, MLA, was speaking at the opening of the Annual Conference of the Irish Ports Association, held in Dundalk, Co Louth on Friday 25 September 2009. The Conference was formally opened by Dermot Ahern TD, Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

Murphy stated that:

With trading conditions as difficult as they are, it is entirely understandable that the ports would wish to review the pace in which they bring forward their planned capital investment plans. Nevertheless, I share the observation made by Edward Sweeney, Director of Learning with the National Institute of Transport & Logistics in an InterTradeIreland Freight Transport Report, published earlier this year. He noted that the current economic slowdown provides an opportunity for our ports to address capacity requirements and operational issues, so that they are better able to weather the current challenging trading environment and better able to handle rising demand when the economy recovers.

A full copy of the Minister’s speech, entitled The Role of Ports in the Development of the North’s Economy is available at

www.drdni.gov.uk/index/publications/publications-details.htm