THERE has been some progress today on the bid to get Dursey Island re-connected to the mainland.
Residents and those farming on the island have been cut off since the cable car closed at the start of April for urgent repairs on the two cable towers.
Today local Fianna Fáil TD Christopher O’Sullivan posted that there was ‘finally some white smoke’ on the attempt to engage a temporary ferry service.
‘A service provider has been selected,’ he wrote, and ‘contracts are to be sorted by Monday (April 23rd).’
He said the provider would have to talk to the marine safety office regarding a marine licence. ‘Hopefully this will go well,’ he said, adding: ‘All going smoothly, we should be good to go by the middle of next week. The tender will mean an average of three days service per week, which isn’t perfect, but it’s certainly better than no service at all.’
He concluded: ‘I want to thank the Council staff for prioritising this and Minister Humphreys for providing emergency funding towards the service.’
As reported by The Southern Star, the initial preferred tenderer informed Cork County Council that the company would not be able to secure the necessary marine licence to operate the ferry service.
Cork County Council immediately re-advertised the contract and a spokesperson said at the time that it was ‘disappointed’ that the emergency procurement process did not secure a valid tender and expressed the hope that the process would ‘shortly produce a successful outcome.’
