Former minister seeks additional cut to travel costs for islanders

Islanders off the Galway coast should be afforded an increased subsidised service on passenger ferries to and from the mainland – as existing transport costs to individual passengers are proving prohibitive.

That’s according to former Gaeltacht Minister Eamon Ó Cuív who raised the matter in the Dáil last week – only to find that the Government Department with the power to make any fare cut is holding firm to current rates.

The Fianna Fáil Deputy has repeatedly asked that fares on contracted ferry services for local residents be reduced by 20% – on top of the existing cut currently in place.

The Galway West TD has now raised the matter in the Dáil on three occasions – but the Department of Rural and Community Development has resisted the suggestion on the basis that there are both contracted and private ferries operating a service between the mainland and the islands.

He is looking to lower the transport charges for islanders on subsidised services to the islands in line with the fare reduction in rail and bus services on the mainland.

The Deputy was referring to the service provided from Ros a’Mhíl to the islands but has been told that all of the contracted air, ferry and cargo services managed by the Department were procured in an open and fair process.

The Department has said a fare reduction scheme for chosen suppliers could have the potential to undermine the existing private operators.

It may also lead to reduced services to the islands, particularly with regard to non-subsidised services and other private operators who may be placed at a disadvantage.

But Deputy Ó Cuív has rejected this on the basis that islanders pay “a disproportionate amount” of their incomes on transport costs and this situation needed to be addressed.

“In many cases, they need to keep two cars – one on the island and one on the mainland. Only two islands have roll-on roll-off ferries. Every time they go to the mainland, they mainly have to take public transport,” he stated in yet another Dail debate on the issue.

He explained that he was not looking for a reduction in the fares applied to visitors to the islands but he needed the Department to look at the fares being charged to residents who used the ferries on a regular basis – and needed to do so as part of their lives.

Deputy Ó Cuív said that the non-subsidised ferries are not bound by the reduced fare and nor do they give the islanders a special rate – and nor were they expected to do so.

But he challenged the fact that this could be used as an excuse not to reduce the island fare from Ros a’Mhíl to the three Aran Islands.

“I do not want to hear that there is a service from Doolin to the Aran Islands in the summer and that the service from Ros a’Mhíl is competing with it,” he said.

In response, it was stated that the Department of Transport introduced a fare reduction scheme that sees an average of 20% reduction on public transport services that are managed by the National Transport Authority (NTA).

Therefore the scheme covers public transport services operated by Iarnród Éireann, Bus Éireann, Dublin Bus, Luas, Go-Ahead Ireland and TFI Local Link. However, it does not include the islands services.