Scottish Government is failing islanders

Living on a Scottish island in 2022 has become difficult in the extreme due to the lack of consideration the Scottish Government-owned company Caledonian MacBrayne has for our health and safety.

CalMac no longer delivers the life-line service we once took for granted, with ‘swell’ conditions and an adverse weather forecast the favourite justification for engaging the health and safety manual, albeit the cancellation of a ferry is a decision claimed not to be taken lightly. In recent times the ease and regularity of the taking of those “not taken lightly” decisions seems not to trouble those in charge of delivering the service, as people are stranded for days, or weeks, then when a weather window comes around there is no space on the ferry and you cannot get your car on board, even when booked.

In order to get some perspective on the problem, I recently visited the islands of Mull, Islay and Lismore – I could not get to Iona as the ferry was cancelled – and while the ferry situation was high on the agenda, the state of the roads, under the watch of Argyll and Bute Council, was striking in that, evident on the roads are far greater waves, troughs and peaks than those on the sea. Which begs the question, do they all read from the same health and safety manual?

Clearly Scottish Government, assisted by local government, are failing fragile island communities.

Colin Kennedy, Isle Of Coll.