asked the Minister for Communications his proposals to aid Swansea-Cork Car Ferries Ltd. for 1986.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Cork-Swansea Car Ferry.
4.
I have no proposals.
Apart from being offensive to the House, would the Minister of State like to indicate if his Department have any plans whatsoever with regard to the Cork-Wales connection? Would he tell the House whether he has had representations from Cork indicating that the offer of £500,000 subsidy for that service was too little and too late to try in 1985 to have this service?
Yes, I have had representations to have the £500,000 which the Government offered as a subsidy for this year to be provided for 1986. When the Government decided to provide a grant of £500,000 towards a Cork-Swansea service during 1985 it was in recognition of the year that is in it, the 800th anniversary of the granting of the charter to Cork city. It was made clear that there would be no repeat, and there will be no repeat. We cannot retain a situation where ferry services are being subsidised by the State especially in existing financial circumstances. Even if they were better it would be unwarranted expenditure of public funds.
In view of the fact that the Minister is concerned about the proper celebration of the 800th anniversary of Cork city, would he not put it to the Government that they should increase the subsidy for 1985 and, even though it is very late now, let the people in Cork know that he wants to have a service in 1985?
I was approached about this in November of last year and I got a favourable decision from the Government as quickly as possible, in a matter of weeks. People were informed of that as soon as possible. It is all right for political opponents to say that it is too little and too late and in opposition to promise that they will restore the service. That is exactly the sort of comment that has this country in the mess it is in.
We maintained the service when we were there.
Is the Minister of State serious in his statement here today that he has no proposals to encourage the restoration of a ferry service between the south-west of this country and Great Britain? Is he serious when he gives a curt reply in view of the need as outlined to him by many delegations from the city for this service? Even at this stage would the Government give favourable consideration to the south-west and encourage the provision of a service between Ringaskiddy and Great Britain? Either of two semi-State companies could operate the service, the B & I or the ICL.
The Deputy will know that when I was approached for a subsidy for this service for this year, one of the factors put to me was that the subsidy would be a once off allocation, that there was no expectation that the service would be subsidised in the future. I was told that the proposition was commercially viable but that it needed time to get off the ground. The application was for a grant. The Government acceded to that request. We said that in the circumstances we would make the grant available, but unfortunately the organisers were unable to produce the rest of the package, that was, to provide a ship and funding for the company. Therefore, the Government could not be blamed. We played our part and I am sorry that it has not worked. The Deputy asked whether I would encourage the setting up of a service or if I was saying that I would not act on those lines. I assure him that I would be prepared to give every help, apart from giving cash, to the setting up of a service on the route.
The Minister has acknowledged the importance of this 800th anniversary year for Cork city and the enormous potential there is in exploiting the opportunities offered by this historic occasion. He has indicated that in this year the Government are prepared to make available £500,000 for a ferry service from Cork. My view is that there will be a ferry service between Cork and Great Britain in 1986, regardless of whether the Government wish that to be the case, but perhaps we could concentrate for now on the year 1985. As the Government have decided to make the £500,000 available and since there is one organisation who even at this late stage could provide a ferry service an organisation who have the sales ability and all the necessary backup and management apparatus required, would the Minister not request the Minister responsible to direct that body, the B & I, to provide a ferry service from Cork this summer? The opinion of a number of people who know the score is that if the B & I provide a service, the sum of £500,000 or a sum very near to that would suffice for the provision of the service this summer.
The Leader of the Opposition may not be aware that in 1983 the Government provided £500,000 for the provision of a service by the B & I but that the loss on the service for that summer was in excess of £700,000. The Deputy may not be aware of what I said about the precariousness of the B & I finances. The board of that company have a full time job in maintaining present business and in retaining their people in employment. I have no intention of forcing the board to do anything that would conflict with their commercial judgment.
The Minister is being very foolish.
The Minister has said that the loss on the service in 1983 was £700,000, but would he not agree that it is practically impossible to identify the losses on the Cork-Swansea route as distinct from losses on the Rosslare run? Would he not agree that the board of B & I will say it is extremely difficult to identify the exact losses on services out of Cork and the exact loss on the other service?
If they said that I would sack them. Of course they should know what individual services are costing.
They have said that time and again.