Madam, – In your coverage of “A Blueprint for Ireland’s Recovery” (Home News, March 16th) I noted one of the proposals is that the costs of access for tourists could be reduced if State-owned ports and airports were sold to private operators.
I checked on March 28th the price of a return ferry journey for a car and two people between Holyhead and Dublin, inward on April 9th and outward on April 16th. The cheapest Irish Ferries return fare is £311 for return travel on the MV Ulysses. The cheapest Stena Line return fare is €314 for return travel on the MV Stena Adventurer.
The dues paid by the ferry operators to Dublin Port Company for the car and two passengers would be €3.10 each way. The ship dues payable would be €2,006 by Irish Ferries and €1,718 by Stena Line. It is worth noting that these dues have remained largely unchanged since the early 1990s. Similar dues would also be payable to the Port of Holyhead.
On this basis, I wonder why the authors of the Blueprint for Ireland’s Recovery think that selling the State-owned ports is a solution to reducing access transport costs for tourists.
Intuitively one feels that the first action by a private owner, for example, of a newly privatised Dublin Port Company would be to increase port charges. – Yours, etc,