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.