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The Daily PollHAVE YOU MADE it out to the sales yet?
In the two days after Christmas more than €260 million was spent in Irish shops.
Retail Excellence Ireland also noted that online sales are up on previous years with Irish customers embracing online shopping.
So today we’re asking: Have you bought anything in the sales so far?
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The navy are all out in the Mediterranean ferrying illegal immigrants into the heart of Europe. Sorry Irish people who need help.
The rules for equipment on ferries are very different to those on cargo, search and rescue or war ships, the navy may not be kitted out at present to run a regular ferry service.
Also, the navy’s ships may require too great a depth to get into Inis Mhor harbour.
@Keith Mitchell:
Pitiful. The failure of the free market to provide an essential ferry service is not the fault of desperate refugees drowning in the Med.
@Keith Mitchell: typical racist claptrap scapegoating immigrants rather than the greedy ferry operator that’s the cause of this problem. In any case, government should step in and treat this as a public transport issue, they spend millions on token efforts trying to save the Irish language yet are prepared to allow die the very communities where it’s in fact a living language.
@Keith Mitchell: the same person who thinks our constitution should continue to equate the life of a foetus as a pregnant mother and considers the life of a desperate refugee fleeing war and famine even less. Hypocrite.
Keith, because the navy don’t have passenger ferries!
@Vocal Outrage: I suspect Keith finds such facts inconvenient as they don’t accord with his prejudices.
@Dublinlad tell that to all the navy ships in the Mediterranean loading up with hundreds of illegal passengers.
Have a day off will ya you flute
Keith, the Aran islands needs a proper year round ferry service with a passenger ferry! Please focus on that and not the idea that the navy will do the job. The navy can step in for emergencies but they are not the long term solution. Please use your head and start thinking!
Yes Dublinlad and this is an emergency that’s why the residents of the island want the navy drafted in but they’re otherwise engaged. Please use your head and start thinking.
Keith, would it not be a better idea for the govt to pay the ferry to continue with the service in the meantime till they come up with a solution? Because it’s a passenger ferry and this is what it’s designed for? Use your head!!!
The private company said they made a loss in winter months making the service unsustainable. Until this dispute can be resolved why not use the navy to help Irish people who already pay the navy’s wages anyway. I’d rather see OUR navy helping OUR people then be out in the Med operating as a glorified human trafficking service.
Yeah, I hate to break it to you but there’s more than one ship in the navy.
It’s not the free market at fault, it’s the local council overcharging.
Keith, have you read the latest news on the ferry? They have come to an agreement to keep it running. Hopefully they can find a long term solution. Your idea was shortsighted.
@brian Mc gee.. What about deliveriey trucks and so on bringing supplies. Perhaps they could crowd fund drones to drop in the bread and milk. Only messing. Tho the goverment should treat it with the same regard as other islands and supply a goverment run ferry service.
Viking , do they really need delivery trucks? Supplies could fit on a smaller boat.
True, and they can distribute the supplies around the island on their donkeys and carts.
No need to be an ass, there’s plenty of transport available on the island. It’s only a small population during the winter
Do these ppl pay a higher propertionate tax because they livein an awkward area?
The islanders should crowd fund for a small fast boat that they can use. ( or giving a grant ) Much more economical than a large ferry in the winter.
Or put our navy to use helping Irish people (who pay their wages) for once.
Is that a legal charge, €5 for a citizen to travel within the state?
Keith,
Do the maths , between the use of a Navy Boat and it’s crew, it would be much more practical to provide them with their own boat.
Brian, a small fast boat? What about goods and services? I suppose a few loaves of bread can be put on that small boat?
@Greg Blake: It appears that it’s €5 per year for residents according to this: http://www.rte.ie/news/2016/0127/763330-aran-islands-ferry/
Since the ferry service is pretty necessary to get there and back for residents and bring tourists in, even in winter, Galway Council would be better off with am .80c room tax like many other cities around the world impose.
Dublinlad, I’m not talking about a canoe. Realistically they only need a small boat to ferry people across that can also city a pallet or two.
If larger items need to be bought across then a larger boat can be used for that.
Then come march it’ll be business as usual.
Greg yes it’s a legal charge. There’s a charge in the ticket for using train stations, bus stations , airports etc.
Although in New York they provide free ferries between Burroughs. Which us along the lines of what you are thinking
Brian, obviously you never crossed to the island in winter in a small fast boat.The Atlantic in winter is not like a mll pond.
Brian, it not an integral part of the fare structure, its a local government charge, not sure if it’s totally legal, it might be in breach of access rights, when they impose a toll, or a transit charge there always has to be an alternative route for non payers to take or they cannot impose it. The curragh, the helicopter and swimming cannot be considered an alternative route.
Martin Ferris might have to many flash backs should the Naval Service be tasked. The says of the Defence Forces being used to carry out tasking s like this when the normal operators won’t are long gone.
It’s the immagents, I knew it! Even when it was the ferries I knew it was them.
As a former Islander I can totally understand that life revolves around regular contact with the mainland.
Will we any canvassing on the island next time around
Inis Mòr or The Island of The Maori was discovered in 1842 off the New Zealand coast. It was traded to Ireland for 17 sheep and 3 comely girls. The islanders are genetically distinct from all other races on the planet. Several attempts have been made to breed with girls on this island by Galwegians, mostly unsuccessful due to the genetic disparity. The one or two instances of success resulted in a hybrid sterile chimera. The boat service is irrelevant to these islanders as they are adept at swimming and rarely intermingle. A massive 82% of modern New Zealanders can trace their ancestry to the comely lasses supplied by Ireland. A further 7% can trace theirs to the sheep. Traditional foods on the island include a fibrous soup made from Aran sweaters and seaweed.
@Hugh Mannatee: My Granny had lots of recipes and household hints from there, most involving sheep droppings and tram tickets. She also used to make walking sticks from whale willies when hey were plentiful along the coast
@Hugh Mannatee: What?
It’s a new feature: Hugh’s Believe It Or Not.
Mack. The whale willies were removed while they were still alive. They could not breed successfully thereafter and had a build up of ejaculate in the testes. This spilled into the blood stream. Hence the name Sperm Whales.
@Hugh Mannatee: There used to be a chipper across from the Rialto cinema that sold cod balls in batter which is why so many cod sang soprano in the olden days
I always preferred Bass.
@Hugh Mannatee: My favourite too but it had to be hand drawn and not the gassy stuff. Ansells was also a very nice pint, again hand drawn.
sorry not enough vote for FINE GEAL OR FIONA FAIL to be interested in fixing this ongoing problem, you can allways rely on the shinners to fight for all our citizens rights
‘ they ‘ should do something about it, ‘they ‘have done nothing for the ordinary people of Ireland and ‘ they’ must be held responsible.
Just bring in the Air Corps instead.
Heard the ferry companies spokesperson interviewed on morning Ireland, mother of god he was useless, clueless and an embarrassment. The interviewer wiped the floor with him and I suspect he’s probably seeking new employment. It is quite simple really, this shower want the taxpayer to pay them a kings Ransom during the lean winter months.
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