Thread by @tconnellyRTE

As the ECJ row deepens, I'm in Dunkirk where Ireland's Europe Minister @ThomasByrneTD is inaugurating a new Irish terminal. Since Jan 1 there have been 50,000 freight units moving from here to Rosslare, sidestepping the UK landbridge

2/ Speaking ahead of the inauguration Mr Byrne told @rtenews the role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) was set out in the Protocol that UK prime minister Boris Johnson and his chief Brexit minister David Frost negotiated.

3/ He said: “The European Court of Justice [role] is not new because it's there in Article 12 of the Northern Ireland Protocol. It’s been there since David Frost and Boris Johnson negotiated the Protocol.

4/ “But I would say that it is of little practical importance to the businesses and the people of Northern Ireland, whether they are unionists or nationalists.

5/ “We want to help them improve their trade flows to Britain as they’ve asked and help them of course to continue to have access to the [EU] single market through these rules as well, which is equally important.”

6/ Mr Byrne said the new route was sold out, and was evidence of the expansion of sea routes from Ireland direct to the rest of the EU.

7/ “We only had 12 direct routes to France before Brexit, now it’s 44. We're looking as well next summer towards tourism to get Irish tourists into this region, but also tourists from Northern France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. They have more direct routes into Ireland.”

8/ Mr Byrne said the land bridge was still important as it took less time than average and was important for certain fresh foods. However, he said the sea route from Rosslare to Dunkirk provided lorry drivers with more rest periods.

9/ The Dunkirk-Rosslare route is being operated by the Danish shipping line @DFDSGroup, which now has three boats operating five round trips per week.

10/ CEO Torben Carlsen told RTE News: “This was something that is in response to Brexit. It was clear, also to our Irish partners, that Irish exporters would be seriously suffering, potentially due to the difficulties of paperwork and delays.

11/ “So there was a demand for a direct link between Ireland and the EU, most specifically France, and we responded to that need.”

Mr Carlsen said the sea route was also appropriate for just in time food exports.

12/ “We have a lot of time-sensitive goods on this route, and with the tacometers of the drivers and the schedule they have, you're almost able to get to Dunkirk at the same time as you would with the land bridge to Calais or Dunkirk.

13/ “It's a very attractive route also for drivers because they resting when they are at sea and have a full driving schedule when they arrive. So the land bridge does not have an advantage.”

Mr Carlsen said DFDS was looking at ways to increase tonnage capacity on the route.

14/ “Irish exporters have really supported this route... It's been difficult for us, in all honesty, to have enough tonnage on the route to live up to the demand.

15/ "I've just talked to some of our largest shippers and we're trying to see how we can have a product that is sufficiently large in capacity to make it the long term solution for their customers.

16/ “And I think...exchanging a larger ship into the route [will] have more reliability. We want to do that with the issues we've seen from the Irish exporters. And surprisingly there's also been quite a lot of interest from the continent in using this route to rebalance things.”