Ferry services

New cargo ferry service for Mayo islands

Denise Horan

FROM August 1 Mayo’s islanders will be able to avail of scheduled cargo ferry services twice weekly.
The announcement of the scheduled services for Clare Island, Inishturk, Inishbofin and Tory Island was made by the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Éamon Ó Cuív, last Friday in Belmullet.
Heretofore, cargo and passenger ferry services were combined, but now special ferries will transport goods to the island, while passenger services will continue to operate separately. The cargo ferries will carry all sorts of items to and fro, from cars to vans, builders’ materials to household appliances and everything in between.
According to Clare Island Manager, Donal O’Shea, the significance of this new initiative is three-fold.
“The certainty of the scheduling is the main thing for islanders; they will know exactly when the service will be in operation. Also, similar to the passenger ferries, for which a Government subsidy was introduced a few years ago, this service will be subsidised, which means that islanders will not be charged over a certain amount for cargo services.
“And finally, from a health and safety point of view this will be completely compliant, because in the past the passengers and cargo were mixed together which was far from ideal,” he said.
Donal O’Shea thanked the Minister for what he described as ‘yet another positive initiative for island people’.
The Clare Island and Inishturk services will be operated by Clare Island Ferries, while the Inishbofin service will be looked after by Michael Molloy.