UPDATE SEPTEMBER 30
Adds Sept 30
Cara McShane, Moyle Council chairman, had this to say:
On Wednesday 9th September**, I was honored to be invited to the official launch of the new catamaran ferry between Ballycastle and Rathlin Island. Although there were many potholes on the journey over to Rathlin, .... DaithÃ's blog
[** 999?]
Seems that Cara missed the formal dress wear part of the invitation that I received personally from one of the company directors and this latest revelation won't endear her to the DRD press office which seems keen to put the best possible spin on news about the Rathlin ferry.
Conor Murphy, Minister for Regional Development, also seems keen to hide behind the words of Lord Adonis rather than shed light on the role played by his officials in last September's operation of the MV Canna with an invalid passenger certificate and, presumably, void insurance.
Perhaps the Minister could also explain precisely what his department's stance is on the purchase of ferries - we've had YES, NO, YES - and why the Small Ferries Project team seems deficient in folks who actually operate ferry services and why all lifeline services across the UK and Ireland aren't part of the study. Some ferry operators appear not to have been told about this past Tuesday's event in Brussels.
Maybe the folks at CMAL will present the Minister with an SFP monogrammed tie - and a copy of their own press release.
