(nalil blogspot)

The Saint Sorney sets sail story on

the front page of today's Chronicle, Moyle Edition, seemed too good to be true

- and it was.

I drove over to Ballycastle to see if there was a new twist to the local soap opera and

was surprised to see that the St Sorney was not berthed at the pontoon in

preparation for the 11am crossing, as indicated by the timetable. A waiting

passenger said that the ferry was due in shortly. I hurried over to the slipway

to watch it arrive. An unfamiliar craft came into view and it was then that I

spotted the St Sorney tied up on the pier below Morton's shop.

The new ferry was the Causeway Explorer. It's owner, Willie Verner, had made it available as the St Sorney was out of service and the Ossian of Staffa had returned to Scotland. Willie seemed a little surprised that he could only get an MCA passenger carrying certificate for twelve passengers whilst the fairly similar sized St Sorney had

got a certificate this Monday past for thirty five passengers. The first of the

four passenger only ferries, the True Light, never made it into service; it

failed its MCA stability test.

In regard to the Chronicle report, it should be pointed out that the chair of

Moyle Council was not invited to the safety inspection; he heard about it and

decided to find out what problems needed to be dealt with. Ferry operating

procedures may have been approved but safety issues pertaining to the pontoons

are only now being dealt with on Rathlin and later in Ballycastle, one month

into the use of the passenger only ferry. These issues should have been addressed

in the tendering process and resolved prior to July 1. Why were they not noted

by Ministers and officials in DRD and DFP and by members of the Tender

Evaluation Panel?

I'm a little surprised that the new owner has asserted that the 'new 20 minute passenger crossing has so far left and departed (sic) to schedule' when Flickr

images linked to this blog show the Ossian of Staffa taking just over thirty

minutes for the crossing.

So what's wrong with the St Sorney? It had broken down with engine problems on

the way from Rossaveal in Co Galway and various reports indicate that similar

problems may cause it to be out of service for several days.

The questions put to the Northern Ireland Audit Office have yet to be answered.

(Image links not included here, but the account of them is accurate.

Regular readers of “emara News” and those with local West Cork knowledge would not have been surprised at claims by the operator that could not be substantiated, for instance, the one that is a passionate tenet of faith among the senior ranks of the civil servants, not to mention their political head, at the Dept. of Community Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, that the Maid Of The Isles is available as a standby boat for the Cape Clear ferry.   The seals in Bantry Bay know that this boat, originally built with the assistance of LEADER money as a marine tourism boat and running for sometime against the lifeline Naomh Ciaran ferry in the summer to cream off her profit, is now tied to a contract for the Whiddy Island Oil Terminal, and thus cannot perform the contracted function on the Cape run.  

Blind faith in the word of an authoritative figure may be prized as an adjunct to a belief in organised religion, but even in those circumstances, the figure is usually of good standing in his community and has received the training and approval of the religious organisation.  

Does this operator have the qualities, standing and track record to justify this faith?

Is it appropriate for members of a department of government to continue to maintain that faith, in the face of behaviour which suggests an inability or unwillingness to meet the requirements of the contract which “won” the operator the service, for example not bringing the Maid into service in the winter when needed, or for that matter failing to provide from the 1st of January a new passenger only standby boat (being built by one of the directors of the company as a “marine tourism boat”, and still not available seven months later.

During the first year of operation of this contract, even the Faithful in Galway have been forced into levying penalties three times for breaches.   The boat has been flooded twice by the sea entering.   For many weeks a persistent oil leak polluted the harbours at both ends of the trip and about six weeks ago the Naomh Ciaran was impounded for three or four days, until a stability test could be done to confirm her safety at sea, because a new crane had been fitted, immediately after the annual certification by the Marine Survey Office, without it being informed of the change.

There seems to be a very fishy smell surrounding the contracts, both north and south.   What ever is at the bottom of this needs digging out and disposing of decently before the maggots it is breeding eat any further into the communities involved, or those who seemed prepared to go to the stake for their odd and apparently irrational faith go too far to avoid political and employment martyrdom.

Is there no one out there in the legal or media world capable of using a pick and shovel?

Ed – Editor)