The Carlingford ferry, which connects Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland, was launched one year ago, but is already facing an uncertain future with a solution to the post-Brexit border problem still to be found.
The service has proved popular with commuters looking for a speedy crossing, but the potential imposition of time-consuming customs checks means it might be increasingly reliant on an underdeveloped tourism sector.
The project was 10 years in the making when Britain voted in 2016 to leave the EU, but despite the setback, Frazer Ferries, which operates the service, has vowed to plough on.
“There is no clearly defined endgame for Brexit yet and we don’t know what it will ultimately look like, but we do feel very confident that we will adapt,” Frazer Ferries director Paul O’Sullivan told reporters.
Barry Gardener and his wife, Rita, were among those at Carlingford quay on a cool and calm weekday morning, waiting with two other vehicles to board the ferry.
The couple were traveling from Drogheda, 65km to the south, for a day’s shopping in Newcastle, across the border in Northern Ireland.
“I decided to take her out of the country,” joked the 70-year-old.
The service, which can accomodate 10 cars, runs every 30 minutes across the Carlingford Lough, an inlet of the Irish Sea that separates the two countries.
There are no checks on the border between the British province of Northern Ireland and its southern neighbor, as both are members of the EU and share the same customs rules.
However, EU and British negotiators are stumped on how to maintain the open border post-Brexit.
The quiet region around the lough is renowned for its idyllic, mountainous scenery, but remains isolated, and is more than 20km from the M1 motorway linking Dublin to Belfast.
“A lot of people didn’t know this part of the world existed,” said Geoffrey Chestnutt, owner of a holiday resort on the Northern Irish coast, adding that the ferry had boosted business.
“They would have traveled directly from Newry [in Northern Ireland] to Newcastle, just missing it out,” added the 40-year-old. “It’s a good thing for both sides of the lough.”
In addition to the 17 jobs directly created by the service, it also has the potential to provide a broader boost to the economy, O’Sullivan said.
The operator said a fishery based in the Northern Ireland coastal town of Kilkeel had been in touch about the possibility of making deliveries to the south.
“The ferry would obviously cut a 30 mile [48km] journey down to a couple of miles,” he said, adding that the boat takes quarter of an hour, compared with more than an hour by road.
Ticket-seller Nora McKee said that “most of our commuters are from the north side — a whole lot is traveling through to Dublin for work.”
However, the return of a border could spell an end to the shortened journey for professional clientele.
The ferry is already trying to increase its tourist numbers, but the holidaymakers are still few and far between, said Brian Mac An Bhaird, who blamed a lack of investment.
“Look at today, this is the middle of the summer ... there are no people. Where are the tourists?” said the 71-year-old retiree.
Paddy Malone, from the regional chamber of commerce, said Carlingford was hit particularly hard by the Troubles and has “been neglected” since peace was achieved.
He partld blames authorities south of the border, who he said “feel that if they get people up to the border, half of the money will be spent on the other side.”
Malone said the area has “huge potential if we can manage Brexit,” but added that uncertainty hung over the border region and the future of the ferry.
On a more optimistic note, O’Sullivan said that if a physical border reappeared, “perhaps those cars would rather wait for these checks in the comfort of the ferry terminal overlooking Carlingford Lough” than take the motorway.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS