Irish Ferries Limited

Lobbying Organisation Irish Ferries Limited

Date published 15 May, 2020

Relevant Matter Matters involving public funds

Public Policy Area Transport

Period 1 Jan, 2020 to 30 Apr, 2020

Specific Details Maintaining essential, lifeline ferry services during Covid-19 travel and general lock-down restrictions.

Intended results The maintenance of ferry services on key periphery routes facilitating essential freight services which support Ireland's International lifeline supply. It was requested that the Government owned Irish ports waive variable port charges on routes which had become loss making in light of the significantly reduced passenger traffic and reduction in freight traffic, due to the various restrictions adopted by Governments of countries to / from which we operate, during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Mr. Andrew Sheen (Managing Director - Irish Ferries)

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? No

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Phone call (1)

Phone call 20th March between members of Irish Ferries management and Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport outlining the effects of Government Covid-19 restrictions on the sustainability of essential ferry routes.

Email (6-10)

Exchanges and clarifications as to how an efficient support model to maintain essential ferry routes during the Covid-19 restrictions might be devised.

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Graham Doyle Secretary General (Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport)