Menu

Ireland's sailing, boating & maritime magazine

Displaying items by tag: PM's Questions

#ferries - The UK Prime Minister, reports Channel 4 News, has once again backed the Transport Secretary Chris Grayling as he faced further criticism in parliament over the awarding of a contract to provide ferries in the event of a no-deal Brexit to a company with no ships.

Theresa May insisted that due diligence was carried out before start-up company Seaborne Freight was given a – now rescinded – contract.

But (yesterday) afternoon MPs grilled a senior Department of Transport (DfT) civil servant about how rigorous the checks into Seaborne’s main investor (Arklow Shipping) really were.

For much more featuring footage of Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons and the Parliament Select Committee hearing of the Dft official click here. 

In addition to a report by the Irish Times earlier this week which also delved into Arklow Shipping's 'no contract' with the no-deal Brexit ferry firm plan of a Ramsgate-Ostend (Belgium) service.  

Published in Ferry

Tom Dolan, Solo Offshore Sailor

Even when County Meath solo sailor Tom Dolan had been down the numbers in the early stages of the four-stage 2,000 mile 2020 Figaro Race, Dolan and his boat were soon eating their way up through the fleet in any situation which demanded difficult tactical decisions.

His fifth overall at the finish – the highest-placed non-French sailor and winner of the Vivi Cup – had him right among the international elite in one of 2020's few major events.

The 33-year-old who has lived in Concarneau, Brittany since 2009 but grew up on a farm in rural County Meath came into the gruelling four-stage race aiming to get into the top half of the fleet and to underline his potential to Irish sailing administrators considering the selection process for the 2024 Olympic Mixed Double Offshore category which comes in for the Paris games.