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GREEN PARTY MEPs have welcomed a new ‘SailRail’ route that will combine a ferry and train ticket for travellers going to France from Ireland.
Two companies, Irish Ferries and Brittany Ferries, will facilitate the routes from Dublin and Cork to Cherboug and Roscoff in France.
Previously, Irish Ferries required passengers to book a ferry and rail ticket separately, and could later avail to a 10% discount on their ferry booking, costing a total of €110-130 – excluding the refund and booking fees.
This new ticket, which Green Party MEPs Ciarán Cuffe and Grace O’Sullivan have been campaigning for, will now combine the cost of both tickets and simplify the process, the representatives hope.
Both MEPs say the new tickets will incentivise passengers to choose a more eco-friendly and low-carbon form of transport than air-travel.
Green MEP for Dublin Ciarán Cuffe said the announcement “represents real progress in making available discounted fares between Ireland and France for those who choose low-carbon travel”.
“There is still much work to be done in synchronising train and ferry times to ensure better connectivity between Ireland and Frances. We also want Irish and UK train and bus companies to work with ferry companies to better align their timetables,” Cuffe added.
Cuffe, who says he is a “regular SailRail user”, hopes the future refinements will encourage more travellers to choose the SailRail, low-carbon option.
Recently, both MEPs, along with travel blogger Jon Worth, highlighted the challenges faced by Irish passengers for intercontinental travel.
Earlier this week, the trio hosted the launch of a ‘SailRail Manifesto’ which Cuffe plans to bring forward to other European representatives in Spain, France and the United Kingdom.
The document will be put together on the back of the public meetings that will consolidate audience asks to improve SailRail services and help more people to make this choice of travel.
According to the Green Party, trains and ferries are the “most energy-efficient modes of transport” as a ferry emits 1% of what the plane emits in terms of CO2 per tonne-km, and the train 8% for the same distance travelled.
Cuffe said Wednesday that he was “overwhelmed” with the support that the campaign had received.
“It’s clear that there is demand for better services, and that many more people want to take the slow travel route. Considerable obstacles, however, like price, timetables, and limited accessibility and public transport services to and from ports, are holding them back.”
Cuffe added that the challenges “can be overcome” and that he intends to highlight the issue in Brussels and “begin the process of improving this service for foot passengers”.
Commenting on the new route, MEP for Ireland South, Grace O’Sullivan said that there are discussions to be had over subsidising the costs of slow travel going forward.
“Our airline industry is massively subsidised with public money currently, and these subsidies should be moved into more climate-friendly travel,” O’Sullivan added.
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The state of all them candidates. No competition to Michael D
@Ciarān: Mickey D is the real deal. Couldn’t think of anyone better.
@Ciarān: if president Higgins was in that group you could equally say the state of him ,I can’t say I know of anything outstanding that he’s done ,he praised some men at a funeral that I would have had little respect for in the recent past
@FlopFlipU: What more would you have asked him to do? He is an intelligent, eloquent speaker who represents us well abroad and at home and is always visibly proud to do so.
@Ciarān: Michael D isn’t a patch on McAleese, and is too old for another 7 year term. Joan Freeman will have my vote assuming her candidacy isn’t blocked. Fantastic woman, and without wishing to be sexist I think the women elected to that office have far outperformed any of the men that went before them (although gender is not why I’ll vote for Freeman, but worthy of note all the same)
@Ciarān: I thought the agenda of the last election was to eliminate Labour, let’s complete the job and give higgins the boot too.
@B-Tech Roadman: What per cent of the population actually voted for his party in the last election?
@FlopFlipU: He established TG4 for one thing, and struck the perfect balance in marking the 1916 centenary.
@Trevor Hayden: eh yeah right whatever
@Ciarān: He is a hypocrite and a champagne socialist.
Duffy. A great defender of bloodsports and hunts. No thanks
@Good Early: No joe duffy. ring him at 2 everyday.
@Sean Conway: tbh I’m in shock Duffy isn’t running. Bet he’d run under FG. If mims o Callaghan had ran ,wouldn’t she effectively have been a FF candidate ?
So Joan couldn’t answer the question in Irish. Why doesn’t it mention whether the other two could?
@Joe Lennon:
Maybe no one cared? The fact she hasn’t in the past wasted her time and energy on a useless language is the first good thing I have heard about her.
@Joe Lennon: No idea. Maybe she was the only person asked a question in Irish? They only gave Feeney a token mention, suggesting our impartial press have wrote him off already.
@P.J. Nolan: the first good thing you’ve heard about her? You know she started Pieta House right? Or were you just being facetious?
@ObsidianShine:
I was well aware of Pieta house, I’ve been there as a visitor! I should have said it was the first good thing since the start of this campaign.
@ObsidianShine: and then put god in charge of the finances. That’s a no from me
@P.J. Nolan: Gligín
Democracy means we have a contest. The issue of cost of an election should not come into it. There is no price for Democracy.
Let the Candidates declare themselves, let’s hear the debate and let’s vote. Long live the Republic.
@Gavin O’Brien: ‘Democracy means we have a contest.’ Are you sure you aren’t confusing democracy with a game show, the needs of the citizens with the needs of TV viewers and the media who profit from endless ‘polls’? We have democratically elected a man who does the job well. Even these ‘candidates’ admit this. Which begs the question: if this is the case, why are they running?
@alan: You obviously have not a clue what a democracy is or how it works if you think we have a man democratically elected. He stated he would take the job for seven years not fourteen.
Fourteen years is too long a time for one of the most powerful positions in the state in my opinion. We need to have an election to hold Michael D accountable for his actions during his term as president whether you agree with them or not you get to chose at the ballot.
@brian boru: ‘to hold Michael D accountable for his actions during his term as President’. What actions would they be?
@sean o’dhubhghaill: that’s up to everyone to find out and make a decision on. Just because some people just see the veneer and the position is powerless, doesn’t mean others don’t think he may not be the best candidate for the job of president.
@brian boru: You do not know what the job is if you think it is so powerful. There are powers but they are clearly defined and limited with various backstops.
@brian boru: Okay, you think a fourteen year term limit is too long. What’s that got to do with having an election for the role? Completely different topic that we can and will vote on if we have to. That’s like saying that you buy Smarties to send a message. No one knows what your message is, and that’s not even why we’re here in the first place.
Joan Freeman best of this bunch , by a long shot , she’s far more in touch with the what’s going in peoples lives on than others , she sees it every day .
@Margaret: yet I couldn’t possibly vote for someone who admittedly deprived citizens of equal rights.
@sequoia: Who did that as the President does not make the laws they sign off on them if they do not break the constitution. Learn about the actual powers of the job before you blame somebody for something that was not their fault
@Gary Kearney: she voted no in the 8th amendment referendum is what i think sequoia is referring to. it is also the reason that i wouldn’t vote for her.
…..President Freeman, great name for a free Republic.
@Brian McDonnell: Freeperson surely
I thought the object of the last election was to eliminate Labour, let’s give higgins the boot too.
His state funeral will cost us a fortune, lets not add to the expense.
@Trevor Hayden: How will it “add to the expense” to pay the same amount to a different person for the sake of it? What difference would it make to the main political parties? Have you noticed taxes being reduced due to savings made, or something?
Great. We’re seriously being asked to consider the likes of Duffy, who doesn’t understand the Presidency and really only wants this on his CV? Or Freeman, an uber-catholic President? Would she refuse to sign the legislation to give effect to the wishes of the people in the referendum? How does she feel about the proposed blasphemy changes? Michael D will brush the likes of them aside, and in the process they’ll have their secrets outed and reputations tattered, just like what happened Sean Gallagher.
I agree, there’s not much to offer voters. Also, internationally, who on earth cares if Duffy is a good pal of Sean Gallagher’s? He’s running for President, not trying to get into a nightclub, for Pete’s sake.
Can anyone nominate themselves , my god a sorry bunch . Spare us from iona . keep going michael d…
Has Michael d achieved anything of note personally outside of the culture of our disgraceful gombeen politics, like Freeman and Duffy? I can’t think of anything!
Duffy is clearly a champion of the patriarchy – it’s easy to imagine him beating his chest and roaring like Tarzan in celebration of his own mediocrity. Freeman is a queen of the matriarchy and if elected will suffocate the country with touchy feely mammy meetings and whinging. Higgins is wise, caring, and eloquent. His dogs would make better presidents that the other two.
@Martello Mulligan:
What do u mean that we have no other options ? Michael D couldn’t give a fiddlers about what u mentioned, he totally backed millions of state ( as in our taxes) money being poured into a vanity project in Galway. Also where did he get his accent ? Limerick, North Cork or Galway ? Hardly indigenous to any of those regions. I remain to be convinced that he’s the best on offer.
In the land of the blind, the man with one eye is king.
The only way any of those massive egos is above Michael D is in height. How they can carry their self importance has me baffled. No worries there Michael D. Slainte.
What a waste of money. Michael D will destroy them on every level there is
@Tommy C: Have people forgotten which party mickey is a member of. Yes liebour who along with ffg screwed the country up. He has been paid 200,000 a year for the last 7 years and now wants another 7. He is a traitor to everything the old labour party stood for.
@Derek Poutch: He was old Labour real Labour and has never changed.
The promises are all out already for these candidate, do they not realise its just a figurehead position.
Powerless county councils are enjoying a few weeks of presidential summer glory. Then it’s back to waste collection, street lights and the administration of grants for construction and repair of footpaths.
Is Bono on the list of candidates
as he still hasn’t found what he’s looking for ?
Well this is gonna be a right sh*t show from start to finish.
Sad to not see Bosco running this year
Pieta House is one of finest initiatives in the country, but I think we need people involved in mental health so positively to stay in that field as there are few enough batting for it.
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