- Council agreement on increased passenger levy
Ferry services to Inis Mór will continue after January 4, when the services were due to cease. Island Ferries said services be uninterrupted after that date after agreement was reached in a dispute with Galway County Council.
The dispute with the local authority was due to passenger levies imposed after works were carried out to improve the harbour at Cíll Rónáin on Inis Mór. The company cited negative fiscal conditions” that it said were a consequence of the 80c passenger levy.
Revised proposals were passed by councillors at a meeting earlier this week. The dispute had seen ferry services from Ros a Mhíl to Inis Mór temporarily suspended before they were resumed this month as a gesture of goodwill.
Island Ferries Teo asked for a reduction of the passenger levy to 40c for retrospective trips between 2012 and 2016, and 55c for ferry sailings from 2017 onwards
Half of the company’s €500,000 debt to the council will be written off, not counting upwards of €450,000 in court costs.
