Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

In many circumstances, providing access for foot passengers is a simple matter. It means putting on a minibus to bring people from the boat to the ferry terminal or just providing a safe route for people to walk. Especially in the context of subsidies being provided for private companies to encourage them to put on ferries to avoid the so-called British land bridge, it would be crazy not to insist that there is access for foot passengers on these ferries.

There is a stark contrast between the amount of CO₂generated per passenger in respect of a foot passenger on a ferry, with CO₂emissions of 8 g/km, and a passenger on a long-haul flight, who uses more than ten times that amount, with CO₂emissions of 102 g/km. It makes all the sense in the world to do that. That also underlines the need for Irish Ferries to be brought back into public ownership and that can be part of a plan.

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