Council seek help to restore ferry

Cork County Council is seeking a meeting with Simon Coveney, the marine minister, in an effort to get the Cork-Swansea ferry link reinstated.

Cllr Alan Coleman said the imminent departure of the MV Julia from the city’s quays should focus people’s minds on the fact the link had been worth nearly €50m annually to the local economy. The ship is set to become a floating hotel for wind turbine workers in the North Sea.

The Fianna Fáil councillor said it was important that Mr Coveney acted to get a ferry service up and running again after the demise of the Fastnet Line, which was founded by the West Cork Tourism Co-operative. “We need a campaign to get national support for this to complement the local support it has,” he said.

Mr Coleman pointed out the council, together with Kerry County Council and Cork City Council had pumped hundreds of thousands of euro into Fastnet Line, which operated the MV Julia, as the link was worth so much to the south-west tourist economy.

“This week, the ferry will depart Cork for a separate business venture, but we don’t want the service to be out of sight, out of mind,” he said.

Mayor of County Cork, Cllr Tim Lombard (FG) said it was important that the county council “spearhead the campaign” to get a replacement service.

After securing unanimous agreement from fellow councillors, he said the local authority would write to Mr Coveney seeking an urgent meeting.

The Fastnet Line collapsed because it was undercapitalised when it first launched in Mar 2010 and this was further compounded by rising fuel prices.

The MV Julia has been sold by the company receiver for €5m to Dutch-based company C-BED.

The ship, which had its named changed to Wind Perfection, will shortly cast off from Horgan’s Quay for an extensive refit in Holland.

In October, the ship is due to be chartered by Siemens as a floating hotel for people working on building and maintaining massive offshore wind turbines in the North Sea.