In 1812 a decision was made at Westminster, London to create an entirely new landing point for passengers and mails coming to Ireland from London and southern England. The place selected was Dunmore East and £118,000 was set aside for the erection of a pier there. In 1814 big changes took place when Alexander Nimmo commenced work on the new harbour at Dunmore. The work mainly the building of a large pier or quay with a lighthouse at the end. Nimmo's original estimate had been £20,000 but at the time of his death in 1832 about £93,000 had been spent and the final cost was £108,000. By then (1837) the harbour had started to silt up, so the packet station was transferred to Waterford city.