#CapacityBoost - Irish Ferries have announced that they are to transfer Isle of Inishmore from the southern Irish Sea to the Holyhead-Dublin route to ensure there is plenty of capacity to and from Ireland this Christmas.

Afloat.ie adds that this will be the second successive festive season that the Pembrokeshire port serving ferry is to be repositioned onto the busy core central Irish Sea route between Wales and the Irish capital.

"Up to six million people living in Britain have Irish grandparents or even closer connections, so it's no wonder that Christmas is our busiest time of year," says the carrier's head of passenger sales Dermot Merrigan.

The operator's flagship Ulysses at 50,938 tonnes the largest ferry on the Irish Sea, operates the last sailing from Holyhead to Dublin on Christmas Eve at 14.10hrs.

On the last sailing from Pembroke to Rosslare, the Oscar Wilde's departure at 08.45 is on Wednesday 24 December.

There are no sailings on Christmas Day or Boxing Day, and the first UK-bound ferry is the 08.05 sailing from Dublin on Saturday 27 December, followed by five more sailings during the course of the day.