The subject to which I will address myself is one for which an Adjournment Debate here is ideally suited. I got the permission of the Ceann Comhairle to raise the question of the adequacy of the ferryboat service to Cape Clear because no reasonable, levelheaded person who looks at that service at present in relation to the needs of the island community and of the people who visit that island could believe that it is adequate. This is an inadequacy which reflects on several administrations and not only on this one and I am not making party political points about this.
The situation on Oileán Cleéire is, if not exactly unique, unique in Munster. The island community there, quite apart from being a Gaeltacht community, has a unique attraction for visitors both from the area and from abroad. It is also a place where many students go to learn Irish during the summer months. It is my contention and it is the belief of many people who have to use the service that it has become so outmoded now as to be severely inadequate to meet the demands that are put upon it.
Today I got an answer from the Minister to a written question I put down about the structure and background and history of the ferryboat service. Even a casual reading of these figures and of the reply given to me by the Minister will show how inadequate this service is. The boat concerned—and it is a fine boat so far as it goes—was acquired for this service in March 1958, over 20 years ago. It is not necessarily true to say that a boat's life span is 20 years or less but for us to pretend that the needs and demands of the situation now are the same as they were 20 years ago is manifestly ridiculous. It cost just under £10,000 in 1958. There is no present estimate of its value, but it is clear that the amount that has to be spent on the maintenance of a boat goes up as it grows older. It is certainly true in relation to the Cape Clear boat. In 1976 £5,362 was spent on maintenance. In 1978, two years later, that was more than doubled to £12,314. It is inevitable that any boat of this age which is undergoing the fairly punishing work schedule that it has to today will increasingly cost so much in maintenance that a point comes at which it is better to replace it and perhaps pension it off to some slightly less strenuous occupation than to go on repairing it.
There are a number of reasons why the present boat is inadequate for the job that it is being asked to do. One of them is quite simply that it is not big enough. The Minister informed me that the certificate that the boat carries in relation to its fitness for passengers relates to between 26 and 32 passengers on one certificate and 40 passengers on another certificate. Nobody who has ever been on that boat in the summer months can accept for a moment that a maximum of 40 passengers is ideal for the kind of traffic that that boat is asked to take. I have never counted the numbers of people I have seen on the boat from time to time but I suspect that on occasion it is only due to the kind-heartedness of the boat's crew that some members of families and maybe children have not been stranded on the island overnight.
This service should be able to be carried out in all reasonable weather conditions and in all foreseeable conditions as to demands made by passengers and so on. What is needed is a boat capable of carrying a maximum—and I stress a maximum—of at least twice the number that the present boat certificate is for, something between 80 and 100 people.
Another reason that the boat is inadequate for the present service is that it is too slow. It was acquired in 1958 at a time when we were all rather more leisurely. Its maximum speed is eight knots and the cruising speed is six to eight knots. This effectively means that it cannot do two full rounds of the journey in each day and this sharply reduces its adequacies as a ferry service. A bigger boat that went faster would be a much better proposition for the island and for all the people who visit the island.
The other reason that a bigger and faster boat would be better is because the present ferryboat is vulnerable to extreme weather conditions simply on account of its size. I asked the Minister how many journeys had been cancelled in the past year owing to weather conditions and he was not able to supply me with this information. I do not believe that he was trying to conceal the information; perhaps it was not just possible to get the information together in the available time. But we have only to look at the weather we had in the last few days and at the weather we had in November 1978 to see that a small boat is infinitely more vulnerable to bad weather conditions in terms of forced cancellation of passengers than a bigger more seaworthy boat would be.
While part of my argument has been that the ferryboat has been inadequate for the convenience and comfort of the many more casual visitors to the island during the summer, the other problem is that it is a severe imposition on the islanders if they and the people who visit them cannot use the service during the winter months. It is during the winter months that the weather conditions are most severe and this problem in relation to the size and seaworthiness of the vessel in particular conditions comes into play. The Minister informed me this afternoon that the service is actually losing money at the moment. It lost £9,000 in 1976, £17,000 in 1977 and £88,000 in 1978. At the very least if we had a bigger boat that could accommodate all the passengers who want to go on it it would alleviate the problem. I do not know if the Minister has ever been to the end of the pier in Baltimore and seen the scrum that ensues on very many occasions during the summer for the few available places on the boat when it is leaving. It should be possible to have a higher turnover if not a reduction in the losses, because I believe—and the Minister will accept it—that this has to be maintained as a social service at least as much as an economic service. For the same volume of loss a much better service would be provided.
The other aspect of this that is not widely noted is that the attractiveness of Cape Clear as a resort and as a place to visit and become immersed in Irish culture, music and so on has a direct economic influence not only on the island itself but on the island's hinterland, and by that I mean everywhere effectively west from Skibbereen which benefits to some degree from the attractiveness of Oileán Cléire. Therefore, any improvement which is carried out to this ferryboat service will not only benefit the island and the people who visit it but will also benefit a comparatively wide hinterland.
I suspect the problem of freight, which is also real given the size of the present boat, would be substantially alleviated if a bigger, faster and roomier boat were provided. There were just under 12,000 passengers carried on the service in 1978. In 1977, 9,290 passengers were carried and in 1976, 10,302 passengers were carried. If we compare the 1978 figures with the 1976 figures we will see that there has only been a 20 per cent increase in two years—that is a 10 per cent per year. I am prepared to bet that the potential for an increase in the service is very much more substantial than that modest amount. If the Minister can see his way to doing something about the matter he will be doing not only the islanders a service but he will be doing the cause of the Gaeltacht a service and he will be doing the cause of the economic regeneration of that part of the country a service. Perhaps in collaboration with Bord Fáilte or the EEC the necessary capital funds may be obtained to re-equip the service.
I can think of few more clearly identified policy options which present such a reasonable case for the EEC Regional Development Fund. It is a specific object that will cost a specific amount of money and it will have a virtually immeasurable effect on the quality of life and the wellbeing of the people in one of the areas of the country that certainly needs regional development.
I think we can count on the Minister's goodwill in this area. I know money is short; it has never been plentiful in the past five or six years. I emphasise to the Minister the urgency of doing something sensible and far-reaching about this service as soon as he can. He will have the support of Deputies in my party if he manages to do so.
