Foyle Ferry Fails?

The Foyle Ferry service is going to halt sailings at the end of the week.

The cross-border car ferry is sinking fast, despite a subsidy of £100,000 from Limavady Borough Council, as this money will not be available until next April.

Some weeks ago, Councillor Paddy Butcher (Sinn Féin) presented a motion of support to save the ferry, which plys between Magilligan in Co Londonderry and Greencastle in Co Donegal.

Limavady Borough Council responded with the fresh funding, regardless of what its counterpart in Donegal offered.

In addition, both councils have already made a joint application under the Rural Development Measure of the European Interreg IVA programme to fund the service.

However, a decision about it is not expected until next year.

The fresh subsidy from Limavady has also been criticised in Co Donegal as a local politician thinks it will weaken the European fund application.

Donegal Fine Gael Councillor Bernard McGuiness, said that while any 'match-funding' would have to be agreed to "in the context of the 2010 budget," he said that he considered Limavady's decision "unhelpful".

The company's contract officially ended on June this year, but it won an extension to operate until 30th September.

Recently, SDLP local councillors in Limavady started a campaign collecting hundreds of signatures of support to 'throw a lifeline' to the ferry.

Other politicians have also continued working on this issue during these weeks. But it seems that these actions has not been enough.

The cross-border service has been operating for eight years, carrying around two million passengers and also vehicles between counties Donegal and Londonderry.

Now, the 10-minute crossing that connected the two communities from both sides is going to disappear, and without immediate funds, the service will cease on 1st October because the operators cannot afford to keep the ferry afloat.

See: Fresh Bid To Rescue Sinking Border Ferry

(CL/BMcC)