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Displaying items by tag: Portmarnock Beach

#Crime - The Irish Times is reporting that a body has been discovered on Portmarnock Beach in North Dublin this morning (12 September).

The news comes just two days after the body of a man in his 40s was found on Mornington Beach in Co Meath further up the coast.

Gardaí have since launched a murder investigation following that grisly find, according to RTÉ News.

Published in News Update
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#MARINE WARNING - The latest Marine Notice from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (DTTAS) advises mariners of cable laying operations in the Irish Sea from next week onwards.

The cable laying operations between Wales and Portmarnock Beach in north Co Dublin will commence on Thursday 25 October for approximately 14 days, subject to weather conditions. The works will be undertaken from the C/S Resolute (Call sign V7FF3) supported by the M/V Coastal Discovery (Call sign PBUZ).

Both vessels will display appropriate shapes and lights during the operations, and will keep a listening watch on VHF Channel 16 at all times.

Mariners are particularly advised to note that small craft will also be supporting the main operations vessels in the immediate area of Portmarnock Beach. These craft will have VHF communications, and their movements will be co-ordinated by the main vessels.

In addition, divers will be operating between Portmarnock Beach and the cable laying vessel within the approved corridor for these work and to a maximum distance of 6.5km from the shore.

All vessels, particularly those engaged in fishing, are requested to give all vessels involved in these operations a wide berth.

Full details of co-ordinates are included in Marine Notice No 59 of 2012, a PDF of which is available to read or download HERE.

Published in Marine Warning

About Brittany Ferries

In 1967 a farmer from Finistère in Brittany, Alexis Gourvennec, succeeded in bringing together a variety of organisations from the region to embark on an ambitious project: the aim was to open up the region, to improve its infrastructure and to enrich its people by turning to traditional partners such as Ireland and the UK. In 1972 BAI (Brittany-England-Ireland) was born.

The first cross-Channel link was inaugurated in January 1973, when a converted Israeli tank-carrier called Kerisnel left the port of Roscoff for Plymouth carrying trucks loaded with Breton vegetables such as cauliflowers and artichokes. The story, therefore, begins on 2 January 1973, 24 hours after Great Britain's entry into the Common Market (EEC).

From these humble beginnings however, Brittany Ferries as the company was re-named quickly opened up to passenger transport, then became a tour operator.

Today, Brittany Ferries has established itself as the national leader in French maritime transport: an atypical leader, under private ownership, still owned by a Breton agricultural cooperative.

Eighty five percent of the company’s passengers are British.

Key Brittany Ferries figures:

  • Turnover: €202.4 million (compared with €469m in 2019)
  • Investment in three new ships, Galicia plus two new vessels powered by cleaner LNG (liquefied natural gas) arriving in 2022 and 2023
  • Employment: 2,474 seafarers and shore staff (average high/low season)
  • Passengers: 752,102 in 2020 (compared with 2,498,354 in 2019)
  • Freight: 160,377 in 2020 (compared with 201,554 in 2019)
  • Twelve ships operating services that connect France, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain (non-Covid year) across 14 routes
  • Twelve ports in total: Bilbao, Santander, Portsmouth, Poole, Plymouth, Cork, Rosslare, Caen, Cherbourg, Le Havre, Saint-Malo, Roscoff
  • Tourism in Europe: 231,000 unique visitors, staying 2.6 million bed-nights in France in 2020 (compared with 857,000 unique visitors, staying 8,7 million bed-nights in 2019).