The Irish Sea Ports are a lot more than transit hubs, and to illustrate this, a new Irish Sea Space website filled with the lore and spirit of ports is attracting the attention of travellers and explorers from near and far.

Business owners and community volunteers at Rosslare Harbour and Dublin Port have joined forces with those in Fishguard, Pembroke Dock and Holyhead in Wales through the Irish Sea Ports Network.

In their new website, IrishSeaPortsNetwork.com, network members spotlight fascinating maritime stories and history, revealing how the Irish Sea has become a ‘bridge’ connecting port communities and tourism businesses. Their common bonds reflect a stormy past of invasions, piracy and slavery. And now, they share a future. As tourists return to the ‘slow travel’ of ferries to lower their carbon footprints, they discover that ports are also destinations. Long known as passageways to adventure around the world, it turns out that ports are themselves intriguing places to visit and explore.

Building relationships across the Irish Sea is second nature to port tourism businesses. “A landlocked town has a 360° land-based market, but ports have just 180° of land”, explained Jeremy Martineau of North Pembrokeshire Trade & Tourism. “The other 180° is across the Irish Sea, so it only makes sense to work together”. Johnstown Castle Estate, Museum and Gardens (just 15 minutes from Rosslare Harbour) is now collaborating with Fishguard’s Chamber of Trade & Tourism to share acts for Music Festivals and attract more UK bus tours to linger in Ireland’s sunny south-east.

“Each of us has been able to add a jigsaw piece to create a beautiful picture of connection”, said Petra Bourne, Dockside Art Gallery, “and this website is the result. But it will grow as more tourism businesses and community champions join the Irish Sea Ports Network”. Cultural heritage is playing a key role in those connections with members, including the 5 Lamps Festival and Dock Workers Preservation Society in Dublin to the Maritime Museum in Holyhead. That museum is located in an old lifeboat station, reminding travellers that crossing the Irish Sea is not always ‘plain sailing’.

Back in Rosslare Harbour, Leo Coy, a tour guide with Rosslare Harbour Maritime Heritage Centre, described how “The new website is a great introduction to the ports. It’s filled with stories from business owners, so you can decide where to stay and what to see and do on your next visit to an Irish Sea port.” Coy continued, “The beauty of ports is that the world comes to us, so you’ll find a melting pot of cultures here every day of the week!”

Leo is now managing the website, along with Petra, Jeremy, Beth Whitney – a tour guide in Holyhead, and staff at the 5 Lamps Festival in Dublin. The Ports, Past and Present research team based at UCC, Wexford County Council and universities in Wales that supported the work to date is winding down its four-year project funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Ireland Wales Co-operation Programme at the end of July.

If you are interested in joining the Irish Sea Ports Network, please email: [email protected]