Dominick Donnelly

2^nd March 2009

We must all work together to reinstate the service

Commenting on the ongoing campaign to raise €3.5 million to restart the Cork Swansea ferry service, Green Party candidate for Cork County Council and Passage West Town Council in the local elections, Cllr. Dominick Donnelly said:  “It is vital that we get this service up and running again.  The co-operative that has been put together is to be applauded for all the work they have done to date, and people in the region must dig deep to ensure that they reach their target by the end of this week.  I have invested myself, and I urge others to do likewise.”

Cllr. Donnelly continued:  “With the vast majority of the world airlines not in profit, there is going to be an inevitable decline in air travel over the years and decades to come, with many airlines going out of business, and air fares will inevitably get more and more expensive.  Ferry companies have had a tough time competing with cheap air fares over the past number of years, but it will become easier over the next few years.  As an island nation on the edge of Europe, we must have adequate connectivity with our European neighbours, and this ferry service to the UK is an essential part of local infrastructure for Cork and for the whole of Munster.  If we are to have a viable tourism industry in the region, this is an essential part of the jigsaw.”

“I am not a wealthy man, but this service is so vital that I thought it important to invest.  I hope that everyone who is in a financial position to invest will at least consider investing by the end of this week, if they haven’t done so already.” Cllr. Donnelly concluded.