Tiree islanders fury over exclusion from Scottish ferry fund

The Herald Scotland

16-07-2025

Details of the long-awaited new cash for cafés, shops, hotels and other tourism-reliant firms were outlined at the end of last month, but crucially only eight islands will be eligible.
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The IBRF offers grants of up to £35,000 to businesses on South Uist, Colonsay, North Uist, Eriskay, Benbecula, Berneray, Grimsay and Arran.
The criteria used by the Scottish Government to decide which islands qualified focused on ferry cancellations.
To be eligible, islands had to have suffered over 15% of service cancellations across three seasons — far above the 7% average across the CalMac network.
However, islands where there has been a significant drop in capacity — with smaller vessels meaning fewer visitors — are not eligible.
Businesses on Tiree say they have been affected by capacity issues (Jamie Simpso)In their letter, Gerard McGoogan, convenor, and John Holliday, secretary, of Tiree Community Council said that during the late winter and spring drydocking period, their usual ferry, the MV Clansman, 'is replaced for months on end by the much smaller and less powerful Lord of the Isles'.
They also criticised the new CalMac booking system, which 'has often shown full ferries, only for the boats to sail with apparent space'.
'So, our problem has been more to do with a lack of capacity at particular times of year, rather than cancelled sailings.
'For years we have heard instances of island businesses losing out financially because of this. Hotels, guest houses and campsites have lost bookings and substantial revenue. Crofters have been unable to move livestock and feed. Fishermen have been unable to move their catch.'
They said the initial announcement of the IBRF was welcome, but that it would be an understatement to say they were 'bitterly disappointed that Tiree will miss out on any compensation'.
'We regard the methodology devised by Highlands and Islands Enterprise to measure the impact of ferry failure in the Hebrides as flawed, and failing to capture the particular problems we face on this island.
'We are not aware that HIE has reached out to Tiree to collect any data.
'We lost faith in the Scottish Government to run a competent ferry service to Tiree some time ago. We have now lost faith in the Scottish Government to understand our island and the huge challenges our businesses face.'
The Lord of the Isles sails to Tiree during the winter Their criticism follows similar flak from islanders on Mull. Locals there said that capacity cuts were equivalent to a 22% drop, down around 7,000 passenger visits.
The west coast ferry network has suffered years of disruption, with an ageing fleet and delays in the delivery of new vessels repeatedly affecting services.
The Herald approached Transport Scotland for comment. They said the Scottish Government was leading on the fund.
The Scottish Government referred The Herald back to their initial press release. They said the criticisms from the Tiree Community Council regarding ferry capacity, booking systems and the loss of faith in the running of ferry services were for Transport Scotland.