Louth's Cllr Reilly pushes for measures to secure future of Carlingford Ferry

At the December meeting of Louth County Council, Cllr John Reilly tabled a motion calling for measures to be explored to safeguard the future of the Carlingford Lough Ferry.

Sharing the background to the Carlingford Lough Ferry, Cllr Reilly said that it commenced operation in August 2017 following the completion of a multi-agency land and marine approval process in both Ireland and Northern Ireland, and represents a private investment of over €10 million. The company operates a 44-car capacity vessel and a 20-car capacity reserve vessel, with capital infrastructure at both Greenore and Greencastle of the highest standard.

Since the Carlingford ferry was launched, it has carried 250 thousand vehicles and 675 thousand passengers across the lough. In the summer of 2020, the company launched Carlingford Lough cruises with live music on board, which according to Cllr Reilly, has been "an incredible success".

He went on to explain that "unfortunately, the ferry was hit with some terrible setbacks in its early years of trading; the uncertainty surrounding the Brexit issue caused enormous problems for the ferry company, which resulted in the loss of bookings from tour companies in the UK. Further unforeseen and uncontrollable events like COVID-19 and the Ukraine War caused fuel prices to rise 30 per cent."

Cllr Reilly believes that the ferry plays an important part in the tourist business in the Cooley peninsula, and claims that the ferry "acts as a springboard opening up the Cooley Peninsula and allowing daytrippers to explore the beautiful Mourne mountains of County Down and link across with the natural attractions of the Cooley peninsula. The marketing of tourism on a cross-border basis is becoming a very real possibility going forward as the success of Ireland’s ancient East may be soon extended into Northern Ireland."

The Fine Gael councillor has asked for a tendering process to be put in place by Louth County Council and this would be set up for a specific period and be reviewed after the narrow water bridge is completed. A similar ferry, he adds, is in operation from Green Castle in Co Donegal to Magilligan Point in Co Derry.

Responding to Cllr Reilly's motion at the December meeting, Director of Strategic Economic Development, Mr Thomas McEvoy, said that "Louth County Council recognises the need for the Carlingford Ferry service to continue and will investigate the feasibility of this model in consultation with relevant Government Departments."