Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

The facilities and infrastructure were not put in to preserve the service. We now have a very good and modern building, which came from the resources of the people in Dún Laoghaire, but we have no ferry service. Not to put too fine a tooth in it but the ferry service in Dún Laoghaire was neglected not just by Stena but by successive Governments which did not put in the roads structure to allow cars to use the service.

Senators have mentioned the potential sale of Aer Lingus. Stena has rationalised the loss of the service in Dún Laoghaire on the basis that it has another service just ten miles up the road. It is not too much of a stretch to say that if the national air carrier was sold, it would suddenly seem more convenient to locate everything in Dublin, for example, than to have regional centres. It would not take too long to think about rationalising everything to London thereafter. There is a need for a task force to examine the removal of the ferry service from Dún Laoghaire and see what can be done. The answer does not lie with a cruise service and it is not just about the idea that Dún Laoghaire can become some sort of grandiose-----