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Commuter inspiration prompts ferry idea

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The group aims to launch the commuter ferry service to Galway city from Ballyvaughan pier. Photograph by Declan Monaghan

A FERRY link from North Clare to Galway City is on the cards after a Ballyvaughan woman’s daily commute inspired her to take action.

Gwen Ryan and a group of local residents are currently trying to gauge interest for the service, which she hopes will be in place before the Volvo Ocean Race returns to Galway Bay next year.
The main aim of the project is to create “a reliable and customer-focused maritime passenger service to Galway from Ballyvaughan, North Clare”.
If such a service is introduced, it would bring commuters from Ballyvaughan and the surrounding towns and villages of North Clare right into the heart of Galway City, allowing them to beat the traffic on the outskirts of the city and around the bay.
A ferry service linking North Clare and Galway City would also form an added attraction for tourists, in theory benefiting those who operate tourism businesses on both sides of the crossing.
Gwen explained that Ballyvaughan predominantly relies on tourism to sustain it. “However, tourism is seasonal and non-tourism employment opportunities in the locality are scarce. Many local inhabitants must commute to nearby centres of enterprise, such as Shannon, Limerick and Galway,” she said.
Galway is the nearest city and viewable across the bay from Ballyvaughan but it is 48.5km away by road, a journey that can take anywhere from 50 minutes to two hours at the moment.
Gwen is just one of the many locals who makes this commute around Galway Bay every day. She took up her position as a research support librarian at National University of Ireland, Galway in late 2008, having moved to Ballyvaughan from Dublin in 2006.
“The road network into Galway is prone to congestion during rush hour and it can take a soul-destroying two hours during rush hour to cross the city for a journey that takes 50 minutes during off-peak times. The same journey by sea would take just 30 minutes,” she points out.
Living in Ballyvaughan and working in Galway, Gwen feels she is getting the best of both worlds.
“I live in one of the most beautiful places in Ireland and I have a very satisfying job at NUIG that I love. It’s the little bit between these two that I have trouble with,” she commented.
“Sitting in a car for two to three hours a day really is soul-destroying. As I would head off each morning and look out across Bishop’s Quarter, I would promise myself that there had to be a better way of using the wonderful natural resource that is on our doorstep,” she recalled.
The idea was further developed during a community think tank in early spring of 2010, which was organised to stem the erosion of enterprise and community life in Ballyvaughan since the recession began. Gwen has since talked to several experienced local mariners and providers of similar passenger services in Donegal and Scotland.
“A wonderful man, named Peter from Fanore, heard I was interested in setting up a community ferry service and offered to collect me from Galway Harbour after work one evening during the summer to show me exactly what the bay is like.
“It was the most enjoyable trip home I have ever had and have been dreaming ever since of how invigorating and energising it would be to arrive in Galway every morning by sea rather than getting snarled up in traffic trying to cross the city by road,” she stated.
“Although it is a coastal village, Ballyvaughan really does not make good use of the sea. If Ballyvaughan was serviced by a sea transportation service, this would be a boon to local commuters, as well as increasing the attractiveness of Ballyvaughan for pedestrian day-trippers who, up until now, only have the Bus Éireann rural commuter service for getting to the village,” she said.
“When Ballyvaughan has a reliable ferry service running to Galway, it will become a transportation hub for North Clare to Galway, as people from the surrounding areas will come to the village to take the ferry and avoid the hassle of driving into Galway City. In the long term, a safe, reliable ferry service could give our village the critical mass it needs to survive by boosting the desirability of Ballyvaughan as a place to live for those who work in Galway.
“Once children finish their second-level education, the majority leave Ballyvaughan to attend college or find work. College students could opt to remain living at home while studying, other young people will have a way to live in the community and hold down a good job and we could have that whole cohort of our community back.”
Living in a rural village has taught Gwen to be resourceful. She knows the vessel that will be used for this service will need to be suited to situations requiring speed and reliability and she believes it could be used in an emergency someday, when access to hospital services in Galway are urgently required by a member of the community.
While research is currently underway, if a ferry service from North Clare to Galway City is found to be viable, those behind it hope it would be operational in early 2012, with a view to being well established by the time the Volvo Ocean Race returns to Galway in July 2012.
They are also open to suggestions or ideas, which might help bring the idea to fruition. To find out more information or take part in a usage survey, log on to www.ballyvaughanbayhop.ie or contact Julia at Julia@ballyvaughanbayhop.ie.

 

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