Paul Murphy
Question:8. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Transport the plans in place to ensure access for foot passengers on ferry services to France. [35795/20]
View answerThursday, 12 November 2020
Questions (8)
Oral answers (6 contributions)
There are plans in place from January to expand the number of ferries to France in light of Brexit. It will go from a few times a week to a daily service but it seems from media reports that there will not be access for foot passengers on these services, which would be a huge missed opportunity in getting people who want to go to mainland Europe out of planes and onto a much more sustainable mode of travel, namely ferries.
Foot passengers are currently able to travel to France on ferry services, with the exception of one operator over the winter months due to operational constraints. I understand that the Deputy's question was prompted by the announcement last Thursday regarding increased service frequencies on roll-on roll-off passenger, RoPax, ferry services from Ireland to France from January 2021 and by the publication of the Irish Maritime Development Office, IMDO, report regarding capacity on continental services.
With the Brexit transition period coming to an end on 31 December and the resultant delays that are expected on the UK land bridge, I welcomed the IMDO report which found that there was more than sufficient spare capacity to accommodate any displaced land bridge traffic on direct routes to the continent. I also welcome the decision by both Irish Ferries and Stena Line to increase the frequency of their services to France in January 2021, providing more capacity and options to both business and passengers.
Ferry operators providing services on Ireland to France routes are private companies and any decision to restrict access to vehicle traffic only is a commercial decision made by the companies. While one operator does restrict access to foot passengers over the winter months, there are and will continue to be alternative foot passenger options to France available all year round. These options easily cover the demand there is for foot passengers on this route which is reported as negligible at present. Covid-19 did lead to additional foot passenger capacity restrictions on some services in 2020. This was based on operators having significantly reduced capacity to meet health protocols and facilitate social distancing onboard ships, which reduced the cabin numbers available for sale. These operators report that they expect to be back to normal capacity in 2021, when they will welcome foot passengers on their French services as normal.
The answer illustrates another problem with the privatisation of Irish Ferries, whereby Irish Ferries is not obliged to provide a public transport service or access to foot passengers. It is free not to do it and it does not do it in circumstances where it does not think it is profitable. A consequence of that is increased CO2 emissions but from the point of view of capitalism, that is just another externality and not something it is concerned with.
My understanding is that the Irish Ferries Dublin to Cherbourg sailings on the MS Epsilon ferry generally do not accept foot passengers both ways. Sometimes, one may be able to get to France as a foot passenger but one might not be able come back via the same route. It is the Dublin to Cherbourg route that is being touted for expansion to a daily service. Unfortunately the Minister of State is not able to tell me that foot passengers will be able to access daily services to France and that is what is necessary.
Irish Ferries and Stena Line operate services on the Dublin to Cherbourg and Rosslare to Cherbourg routes, respectively. Brittany Ferries is expected to provide services from Rosslare to Cherbourg and from Cork to Roscoff from March to October of next year. Both Irish Ferries and Stena Line carry foot passengers during the peak period every year. However, Stena Line carries foot passengers all year around. As the Deputy has outlined, Irish Ferries does not carry foot passengers over the winter period only, when it has an alternative vessel on the route which is more suitable to carry freight. It is understood that is for health and safety reasons.
On the programme for Government, there is a commitment in place that we will work to ensure that ferry companies provide access for foot passengers without cars and the Department will shortly start engagement with Dublin Port, Rosslare Europort, the Port of Cork and the relevant shipping companies to ascertain the situation with regard to facilitating foot passengers.
In many circumstances, providing access for foot passengers is a simple matter. It means putting on a minibus to bring people from the boat to the ferry terminal or just providing a safe route for people to walk. Especially in the context of subsidies being provided for private companies to encourage them to put on ferries to avoid the so-called British land bridge, it would be crazy not to insist that there is access for foot passengers on these ferries.
There is a stark contrast between the amount of CO2 generated per passenger in respect of a foot passenger on a ferry, with CO2 emissions of 8 g/km, and a passenger on a long-haul flight, who uses more than ten times that amount, with CO2 emissions of 102 g/km. It makes all the sense in the world to do that. That also underlines the need for Irish Ferries to be brought back into public ownership and that can be part of a plan.
Bus and rail services are available for foot passengers travelling to Rosslare to avail of the Stena Line services that run all year. I reiterate that the situation referred to by the Deputy relates just to Irish Ferries during the winter period and to the MS Epsilon vessel, because of health and safety reasons regarding the ramps on board. The Government is, however, looking at how we can encourage and enhance the passenger experience as part of the Department's work in that area.