TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO Friday June 14 1996

Secret talks on Irish ferry

All parties involved in the Northern Ireland ferry project were earlier this week remaining tight-lipped about the possibility of a private operator becoming involved.

At the moment government-owned Caledonian MacBrayne is the only operator publicly linked with the project.

But CalMac needs Scottish Office approval to add the service to the routes it already operates on the west coast of Scotland.

CalMac has made no secret of its interest in the project and had identified a suitable vessel for the service.

But now it has emerged that talks are going on regarding the possibility of a privately-owned operator chartering a vessel from CalMac to run the service.

The operator is not being named, but Seacat was at one time interested in the service. The firm already operates a high-speed link between Stranraer and Belfast.

But Argyll and the Isles Enterprise and Moyle District Council, the driving forces behind the project, were more impressed by CalMac’s proposals for the service.

CalMac was the only firm to submit a firm bid to run the service.