The Minister for Agriculture and the Marine has said a decision on the designation of Dunmore East as a landing port for UK and Northern Irish Vessells, will be made in the next few weeks.
Charlie McConalogue is visiting Waterford today and is set to meet with those involved in the fishing industry in Dunmore East.
In January, 9 harbours and ports were assigned by the Department for Agriculture, Food and the Marine however it did not include any landing point for UK vessells along the East and South Coast, all the way from Howth to Castletownbere.
But Minister McConalogue told WLR News there's a strong case to be made for Dunmore being designated as a landing point.
"Dunmore East would have a smaller number of Northern Ireland boats landing into it that is why it wasn't designated in the first instance but certainly there's no doubt Dunmore East is a strategically very important port.
It's one that serves a very wide area of our coastal region and certainly, on that basis, it has a very strong case for designation as well and it's getting very strong consideration.
"I hope to make an announcement on that [whether it will be designated] in the next number of weeks," Minister McConalogue said.
Elsewhere on his trip, Minister McConalogue is set to visit Flahavans in Kilmacthomas and speak to local farming groups about the implication of amendments to the Common Agricultural Policy.
