Ireland's first cable-operated car ferry may soon be plying the waters of Lough Corrib as part of a plan to cut out 30-mile road routes between north Galway and Connemara.
The ferry will be similar to one currently operating on Windermere in England's Lake District, according to Mr J. J. Meehan, managing director of Shannon Ferries Ltd.
Mr Meehan's company, which runs the car ferry across the Shannon estuary between Killimer and Tarbert, has lodged a planning application for the project with Galway County Council.
The purpose-built vessel will be able to accommodate 24 cars and will link Knockferry near Oughterard on the lake's western shore with Kilbeg to the north-east. This represents the narrowest part of the lake, and would involve a seven-minute passage by water, according to Mr Meehan.
The company had hoped to initiate the project several years ago, but had not at that stage enlisted the support of the Corrib Navigation Trustees - a public body entrusted with responsibility for Galway's waterways.
Mr Meehan said that his company was now working with the Corrib Navigation Trustees, and planned to construct roads and use linkspan access to the ferry - rather than constructing private piers.
Costings for the project would depend on a decision on planning, which is anticipated next month, and a target date would be early 2006 for a year-round service, with a reduced schedule during the winter months.
Traffic gridlock has become such a feature in Galway that the ferry is expected to prove very popular. A water crossing could halve the two-hour journey between Tuam in the north to Clifden in the west.