Welsh hope for ferry service

ONE of the leading figures behind the proposed restoration of Cork-Swansea ferry has been invited to address the Welsh Assembly in the hope it will provide a grant for the project.

John Hosford, chairman of the Bring Back The Ferry Campaign, will address the Welsh parliament on May 5. The Welsh Assembly invited him to make a presentation on the project after it was approached by 15 Welsh shareholder members of the cooperative formed to restore the ferry service.

Conor Buckley, chairman of West Cork Tourism — which founded the cooperative — said the invite “represented a huge opportunity” to access even further funding for the project. The cooperative has accepted a deal from a Finnish bank to purchase a ferry to ply the route. Cooperative members, mainly from the West Cork area, raised e3 million towards the project.

The rest of the money required is being made up by a loan from the Finnish bank. Shareholders are currently waiting to tie up legal loose ends before taking charge of The Julia, a ferry which up until recently plied the Baltic Sea. It has 1,800 berths and capacity for up to 400 cars.

In the meantime, Mr Buckley said the cooperative was carrying out interviews for a management team and operator for the new ferry.

“We have already appointed a financial advisor for the project,” Mr Buckley said.

He said it was now likely that June would be the earliest possible date to re-launch the ferry route.

The new company is to be named the Fastnet Line.