Aran ferry users cannot be left high and dry

Galway County Councillors have passed a motion calling on the Government to set up a Public Service Obligation (PSO) contract for the ferry service to and from Inis Mór to ensure residents are no longer held hostage to private operators.

A row over a levy per passenger for the ferry service to use Kilronan Harbour has resulted in the operators, Island Ferries Teo, threatening to pull the service over the winter, claiming it was not profitable without the lucrative tourist trade.

The ferries – due to stop from November 2 – are now scheduled to be pulled from November 21 until March 17.

Despite lengthy negotiations between the Council and the company – as well as two court cases brought and lost by them disputing the legitimacy of the charges – an agreement has not been reached.

Chief Executive of Galway County Council Kevin Kelly said he is still not clear where the main problem lies for the operator.

“I don’t know if it’s the principle of the levy, the methodology [of collection] or the money itself. I don’t know,” he told this month’s meeting.

He stressed that it was important for local democracy that bylaws implemented after twelve months of vigorous debate were not changed to suit an individual. The levy was set at a €5 annual charge for residents and 80c per passenger for visitors with a fee for recreational craft based on length and a tax according to tonnage for cargo vessels.

An offer to pay a levy per vessel, amounting to an annual €10,400 contribution, would not be sufficient to fund the upkeep of Kilronan Harbour, which were between €269,000 and €192,000 annually since 2012.

The pier, used by an average of 200,000 passengers a year, had been opened in 2011 at a cost to the taxpayer of €48m.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.