The Government is planning to make €15m in emergency aid available to ferry companies to keep imports and exports moving during the coronavirus crisis.

Vital exports include meat and dairy product and livestock such as calves.

The move follows a plea for aid by ferry companies who have seen tourist and other passenger numbers collapse in the past month.

Four routes from Rosslare and one from Dublin are to be designated “public service obligation routes”. These include the Rosslare to Cherbourg and Dublin to Cherbourg routes used by livestock trucks.

The aid scheme is to run for three months.