In 1992, a contract was agreed between the Minister for Tourism, Transport, and Communications and a shipping company to provide a passenger and cargo ferry service between Galway and the Aran Islands for the five year period from 1 September 1992 to 31 August 1997. A total of ten tenders was received for the provision of this service. The consultants, Ashford Marine Limited were employed to generate interest in the tender as well as to advise the Department in the evaluation of tenders for the service.
The initial annual cost to the Exchequer of this contract was €603,000, £475,000. However, this was later increased to €698,000, £550,000, with effect from 19 April 1994 in order to take account of inflation, extra operational costs and the cost of essential equipment required for the service. A once-off capital payment of €127,000, £100,000, was also made to the company in 1994 as a contribution towards the cost of additional operational equipment required for the service, extra sailings provided under the contract, the disruption caused by pier improvement works on the islands and extra initial requirements on the vessel used to provide the service.