Skellig Michael sea permit row brews amid OPW safety fears
The number of permits will remain at 15, but the decision to advertise the scheme is a rejection of the ‘hereditary rights’ granted to traditional operators.
It is designed to end what the OPW claims is “anti-competitive practice” and safety deficiencies.
However the Skellig boatmen, who were praised for their role in safely ferrying the Star Wars teams and equipment to and from the island off the south west coast of Kerry, have rejected the allegations about safety and they say their season has been unnecessarily curbed.
A strongly worded circular, issued by email to Oireachtas members, from the office of the OPW minister Simon Harris flagging the changes, says the 1994 Skellig Michael system permit system agreed with boatmen was now unsatisfactory and only some of the original operators were still involved.
There was no consistent or universal approach to safety and the attitude was at times “cavalier” the OPW had found. All boatmen were in possession of the relevant marine Survey Office Licence.
“But beyond this, there is a marked lack of co-operation with the measures designed to inform passengers about safety issues on the sea trip, provide for the safe transfer from boat to island pier, or provide information about the nature of the risks visitors will experience on the island,” it says.
Life-jackets in many instances were not available easily to passengers, and transfers to the pier on Skellig Michael were “haphazard, at best”.
“The OPW views with some alarm the repeated breaches in relation to out of season travel to the island,” it also said. Visitors were regularly transported and landed on the island when there were no resident guides.
“The boatmen have for many years demonstrated an extremely assertive approach to defending their exclusive commercial position and excluding any new entrants to the permit regime,” the circular also states.
The OPW is to “progressively withdraw” from the existing scheme, beginning before the season opens in May, by withdrawing permits from some boatmen. By the end of the season, all permits will be subject to public competition. The permits will be for three years, attract qualified locals who would offer a good level of safe and reliable service. The “legacy boatmen” will no longer have automatic entitlement to a permit.
However a traditional Skellig boatman who has been operating since the 1980s, has rejected the OPW assertions.
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