Rate of ferry cancellations

Madam, - A decade ago, when ferry companies were introducing new, faster craft, they couldn't have been expected to foresee …

Madam, - A decade ago, when ferry companies were introducing new, faster craft, they couldn't have been expected to foresee the drastic effects that climate change would have on their schedules. In recent years there have too many occasions on which high winds have forced cancellations. This has now become so frequent that many prospective passengers can no longer depend on a scheduled sailing on fast ferries and have been compelled to switch to other, more reliable forms of transport.

This situation compares unfavourably with former times when the mail boat and the BI ferries went forth in virtually every sort of weather - often, admittedly, to the extreme discomfort of passengers. But at least they sailed. It is therefore arguable that, especially in the case of Dún Laoghaire, fast ferries should be replaced by a conventional ship that can cope with bad weather.

The skeleton of the Carlisle Pier still exists, and could, presumably, be resurrected to accommodate such vessels. - Yours, etc,

DAVID SOWBY,

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Knocksinna Crescent, Dublin 18.