CalMac

[BCram]

I would rather see essential maintenance carried out during a Calmac ferries annual overhaul period not it having to be withdrawn from service during the busy summer timetable with tourists planning to sail on the ferry having to sleep in their cars.
The one good thing to come out of this fiasco is that these tourists will see how the island residents are having to put up with a poor ferry service which is their ‘bridge to the mainland’ because CMAL have been starved of funding for new ferries by the SNP controlled Scottish Government until it is too late.

I think you are right in believing that the problems with ferries to Islay is going escalate, and that will bring some changes to the way these matters are being handled by the SNP and Greens. For example could it be shown that the engines which were chosen and seem to be problematical, were chosen as a result of Green MSP involvement in the procurement process? There might be some value for the SNP and Calmac in properly apportioning the responsibility for this decision to the MSP Greens.

you get flak on here because you only worry about and talk about Islay but the Isle of Arran has possibly a greater profile and perhaps all the island communities need to work together to try to bring about a change in attitude and support for island communities. you would think that levelling up funding could easily be justified and a coordinated campaign might shake things up and break the cosy cycle of poor performance and underinvestment.