OVER-the past two months, the Eriskay ferry service has significantly deteriorated, despite assurances given at a public meeting on the island by top Comhairle nan Eilean representatives.

Now the Eriskay Community Council are demanding that a working group be established to review, advise on, and monitor transport arrangements for Eriskay.

They say that the existing channels of communication, which consists of occasional public meetings, exchanges of letters and press statements, are ill-suited to the detailed discussion and planning required.

The Community Council have written to Chief Executive Brian Stewart expressing their concern 'at the lack of response' by the Comhairle to their requests for a review of the Eriskay ferry service.

The requests had been renewed at a public meeting in December, attended by the Comhairle representatives, including their Director of Technical Services, Murdo Murray and Chairman of the Transportation Committee Alex Macdonald as well as MP-Calum Macdonald.

"We would now like to urge the Council to take immediate steps to improve the situation in face-to-face consultation with the Community Council and the operator of the vehicle ferry service, and to discuss in detail the contract requirement currently in preparation for the Sound of Barra passenger service," said Community Council chairman Patrick Forbes in his letter to Mr Stewart.

He added, "We believe this could best be achieved through a small working group including representatives from the Western Isles Council, our own Community Council, and the present ferry operator."

Mr Forbes referred to an incident on Tuesday of last week which, he said, provided another telling example of the inadequacy of the service when Eriskay schoolchildren missed a day's education as a passenger ferry was unable to land them safely at Ludag.

"It is important to realise that this incident was not the result of any exceptional weather," stated Mr Forbes.

He went on, "As many people familiar with our surrounding waters could testify, either of the ferries serving the island last Tuesday morning could have crossed the Sound without difficulty had they been scheduled with due regard for the tide."

On the deterioration in the Eriskay ferry service over the past two months, the Community Council are concerned that no action is being taken.

"However much we hear of plans for an 18-car Sound of Barra service within a few years, however true it may be that this will make the economic case for a causeway sometime in the next century, little or nothing is being done to address our present needs," said Mr Forbes.

He pointed out that the intervention by the Assistant Director of Education Richard Woolford last week was 'a rare but welcome recognition of the degree to which our transport problems affect our access to the most basic of public services.'

Mr Forbes added, "We would welcome a similar testimony from the Health Board, who seem to us extraordinarily silent about the position of a community with shared access to a doctor for around 45 minutes a week, at a time rarely confirmed so much as a week in advance."

The Community Council say they would welcome more evidence of a recognition on the part of the Council that adequate transport services were not simply an expense, but an investment.

The Community Council said it was simply not acceptable for the Comhairle to use the argument of limited resources in this context.

"Are we to assume that the entire Council budget is spent on more basic requirements than these?" asked Mr Forbes.

He said that last week's incident clearly illustrated some of the timetabling improvements could be made immediately and at no extra cost.

"Indeed, it could be argued that the employment of one or possibly two more crew members would allow accommodation of virtually all our requests as regards the scheduled vehicle service," said Mr Forbes.

Mr Forbes said that the Council's Department of Technical Services was currently engaged in preparing a new contract for the Sound of Barra passenger service.

"Prior to November of last year, when the contract was transferred to a Barra-based operator, this service provided not only an important link with Barra, but a valuable back-up to the vehicle ferry, in terms of both emergency cover and scheduled sailings," said Mr Forbes.

He went on, "The present service, which virtually excluded Eriskay, fulfils none of these roles. It is therefore of the utmost importance to us that the new contract should be drawn up in conjunction with improvements to the vehicle ferry service to provide the best possible combined service."

Mr Forbes said it had been suggested that the vehicle ferry operator would be given responsibility for the timetabling of the contract passenger service and would authorise any extra sailings. "We doubt whether any contractor would find this condition acceptable," said Mr Forbes.

Original article Stornoway Gazette Jan 16 1997.