Challenge ‘shortened boatmen’s season at island’

The Department of Transport has unlawfully shortened the season available for boatmen to bring tourists and pilgrims to Skellig Michael island off the coast of Kerry, it has been claimed in the High Court.

Boatmen providing a service for visitors to Skellig Michael, which attracts pilgrims and sightseers to its 6th century monastic settlements, say the department should not have placed a condition on their marine licences stating they cannot land there outside May 15 to September 30.

The boatmen say they have been landing there in April and October for decades. However, the department has claimed there are safety issues, relating to algae growth and rockfalls, and that the Office of Public Works (OPW), which looks after the island, does not have any personnel there outside that time.

One of 14 boatmen serving the island, Seanie Murphy, Valentia Island, Co Kerry, was yesterday granted permission by the High Court to bring a challenge to the Transport Minister’s decision to impose the time restriction on his licence.

John O’Donnell SC, for Mr Murphy, said his client has provided a Skellig service with his own boat since 1990. He estimates he has carried around 15,000 passengers. In an affidavit, Mr Murphy said the traditional landing season has been from the beginning of April to the end of October.

Since 2007, the OPW has sought to shorten the landing season by imposing the May 15-September 30 period.

This has never been accepted by the boatmen and landings have continued, and have been tolerated by the OPW. There was, he said, “what might be described as an ‘uneasy peace’ between the boatmen and the OPW”.

He brought legal proceedings after he received a letter last March from the Department of Transport along with a “varied” permit imposing the restricted landing times.

Mr Murphy says while there were two fatal incidents in 1996 and 2009, neither were related to landings. One was a heart attack and the other was a slip and fall.

Mr Justice Seamus Noonan gave counsel for Mr Murphy leave to challenge the decision and also put a stay on the imposition of the new condition on the permit pending determination of the proceedings. He gave liberty to the department to apply to discharge his order with 48 hours notice to Mr Murphy who made the application on an ex-parte (one-side only represented) basis.