Irish Ferries voted best ferry company Ibec at startup manifesto launch
IRISH Ferries has just voted Ireland’s ‘Best Ferry Company’ for the eighth year in succession at the 2018 Irish Travel Industry Awards.
Their latest success brings to three, the number of ‘Best Ferry’ titles currently held by the company, having also been awarded the top honour at the 2017 Irish Travel Trade News Awards and, more recently, voted ‘Ireland’s Favourite Cruise/Ferry Experience’ in the Irish Independent’s 2018 Reader Travel Awards.
Accepting the accolade, Irish Ferries head of passenger sales Dermot Merrigan thanked Irish travel agents for their continued support, adding: ‘It is an exciting time at Irish Ferries, as we strive to improve the standard and quality of both our service and our fleet, to that which our customers have come to expect.
‘We have invested €315m in two new vessels designed for our operations on the Irish Sea – the 54,985 tonne W.B Yeats, due to enter year-round service in July and a 67,300 tonne vessel scheduled for delivery before Mid-2020, set to be the largest cruise ferry in the world in terms of vehicle capacity.’
Meanwhile Irish Ferries parent group, Irish Continetal Group says it has entered into a Memorandum of Agreement for the sale of the High Speed Craft ‘Jonathan Swift’ to Balearia Eurolineas Maritimas S.A. The agreed consideration of €15.5 million, less brokers commission, is payable in cash on delivery less a 10 per cent deposit to be held in escrow. The vessel is to be delivered by the end of April. The ‘Jonathan Swift’, which was commissioned by and delivered to ICG in 1999, will be replaced in the ICG fleet by the 2001-built High Speed Craft ‘Westpac Express,’ which was recently redelivered following a period of 20 months on external charter. She is currently undergoing a refurbishment programme to bring her up to Irish Ferries passenger service standards. The ‘Jonathan Swift’ was delivered to the group in 1999 at a cost of €38.8m. The disposal will generate a book profit for ICG of approximately €14m. STARTUP Ireland and Ibec, the group that represents Irish business, have launched Ireland’s first Startup Manifesto. This document was prepared following extensive consultation with industry stakeholders and represents a checklist of actions required to ensure that Ireland moves towards being a globally relevant startup hub.
Speaking as the manifesto was presented to Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys, Lorcan O’Sullivan, the Startup Ireland Manifesto Coordinator, said, ‘Ireland is recognised as having a lot of the essential elements to be an attractive Startup hub. However, when benchmarked against other countries, we see gaps in the ecosystem and the policy here which need to be addressed. ‘If Ireland is to attract and retain entrepreneurs capable of building globally competitive startups, we need to ensure that Ireland has a startup environment better than competing locations.’ The purpose of the manifesto is to highlight areas that need improvement and to offer possible solutions where they are needed.