Guernsey Press

Deputy says ferry inaction is 'damaging'

DAMAGE is being done in Guernsey by the widespread perception of 'inaction' by Commerce and Employment in addressing the 'fiasco' surrounding Condor Ferries, a long-standing deputy has claimed.

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Vale deputy Matt Fallaize, who has previously warned that the Civil Contingency Authority could be forced to step in, said the intervention from Jersey in this matter has left Guernsey looking complacent.

But Commerce and Employment minister Kevin Stewart has defended his department, saying he is working closely with his Jersey counterpart and that local Law Officers are in the process of drafting legislation so the ferry company can be held to account.

Deputy Fallaize said he accepted that the responsibility to deal with problems primarily lay with Condor.

'However, Commerce and Employment is expressly responsible for securing and developing the island's sea links – and the longer this protracted fiasco drags on, the more anxious Commerce and Employment should be clearly and visibly to represent and articulate the interests of the public,' he said.

'I'm sure there is work going on behind the scenes, but there is no sense from Commerce and Employment of the kind of robust and visible leadership which one would expect.

'The intervention earlier this week of Jersey's Economic Development minister has left his counterparts in Guernsey looking not just less than robust but positively complacent.'

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