Jersey minister bids to ease fears of ‘contamination’ over CI ferry tender
THE decision over who gets the Channel Islands ferry tender for the next 15 years has been delayed again and a Jersey politician has expressed fears that the process might have been ‘contaminated’ by the actions of a senior Jersey civil servant.
Richard Corrigan, chief officer of the island’s Department for the Economy, has withdrawn from the process after he was exposed as voting for tenderer DFDS in an online poll to choose the operator.
Subsequently, it has been highlighted that he has interacted with DFDS and senior staff on other social media platforms.
Deputy Kirsten Morel, Jersey’s minister for Sustainable Economic Development, pictured, has told the island’s States that he was concerned about legal risks but was convinced that Mr Corrigan had demonstrated no bias in the process.
But a new officer needs to take over the process in the island and the timeline, which had initially expected to announce the successful tenderer at the end of September, is now very likely to stretch into November. Deputy Morel said he now expected a decision ‘within a couple of weeks’.
Deputy Jonathan Renouf asked the urgent question in the Jersey States on Wednesday and asked if the minister had considered the legal risks of ‘contamination’ in the process.
It is not known how the islands might reach a decision on which firm would win the contract.
The States of Guernsey has consistently refused to comment on the process, including yesterday when the Guernsey Press asked about delays, the timeline, and whether Guernsey had been in contact with Jersey over latest developments.
Neither Condor nor DFDS would comment yesterday.
The two firms are bidding, along with Irish Ferries, for the contract to run services between the islands, UK and France from next April.
Deputy Morel said that Mr Corrigan had made a ‘genuine mistake’ in voting on the Facebook poll.
‘It was a blunder, not bias,’ he said.
