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2. Lifeline Island Ferry Services
2.1 There is a general recognition, at the government level in each of the countries we have investigated, of the need to support domestic island ferry services. It is recognised that island communities depend on the ferry links connecting them to the mainland - and that it is within the proper locus of the government to intervene to ensure that routes are operated at an adequate level of service (with an adequate frequency across the year), at a fair price, and with an adequate level of quality. In certain countries, the responsibility for the state to provide access via ferry is treated in an analogous way to the responsibility to provide road access.
2.2 Lifeline services are often defined on the basis of protecting the economic wellbeing and reducing the peripherality of the off-shore islands:
- In France (Corsica) and Italy (Sicily), lifeline services are intended to foster territorial continuity.
- In Ireland, lifeline services to the off-shore islands are seen to protect and foster the linguistic and cultural heritage of the islands in addition to supporting residents and industries on the islands.
- In the case of Sweden and Denmark, the ferry services appear to be broadly regarded in the same light as the highway network itself.
2.3 Having recognised the
concept of lifeline services, the governments we have surveyed in this assignment then adopt different approaches to support these services. these We discuss in the following sections.
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