Monday 24 September 2012

FRIST Represented at EU Small Island Conference (Isle of Mull)

FRIST was represented at ESIN’s  (European Federation of Small Islands) conference on the Isle of Mull, Scotland, last week by Marian Bennett.  

 The conference was an invaluable opportunity to learn of the extensive support provided to ferry services not only in Scotland, but also in France, Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark etc.  

 Marian said “representatives from the other islands were truly shocked to learn of the lack of support given to Scilly's transport and that we had no all-year affordable passenger sea service”.


 Marian met the Scottish MEP, Alyn Smith, who assured her he would liaise with South West MEPs to get them to support Scilly and other small EU islands interests in the EU Parliament.  

 The department in Transport Scotland responsible for ferry procurement and subsidies very kindly provided a follow on meeting in Glasgow and have offered Scilly further advice, if required, on the complex financial and legal issues associated with providing subsidized transport services. 

Listen to Marian Bennett's interview on Radio Scilly here

2 comments:

  1. It is encouraging to see the word being spread far and wide. The broader the support base the better. Keep up the good work!

    Mike P

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  2. What a great response and what good contacts for exploring solutions. Dick Cliffe

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