Tipperary mum furious as Irish Ferries charters non-wheelchair accessible boat for popular route

A local mother is calling on Irish Ferries to look after their disabled customers after the company chartered a non-wheelchair accessible boat for a popular route.

Olivia Hassett has stated she is “very upset” following the company’s decision to charter a boat with limited passenger facilities on the route between Rosslare and Pembroke in Wales.

Olivia, whose daughter Caoimhe uses a wheelchair due to a rare muscle condition, says the Norbay boat currently in operation has no lift to the main passenger area, which is only accessible by a steep staircase. 

The Clonmel mother went on RTÉ’s Liveline on Monday to highlight the issue and speaking to The Nationalist, she  said: “I’m just very upset over it because we travel three times a year and we have our holidays booked, but we can’t get the boat. I’m not going to take the risk of trying to drag my daughter up the stairs in case she has a fall.”

The lack of lift facilities affects not only people with disabilities and mobility problems, but also the elderly and parents of young children manoeuvring buggies.

Olivia and her family have been travelling the route regularly for 20 years, however this is the first time they’ve encountered an issue with accessibility.

She said: “My oldest daughter is 22, Caoimhe is actually 19 and I have a 10-year-old. We used to go over and back to Spain once a year.

“And when it came to bringing wheelchairs and stuff in, we just couldn’t do it. It was too hard.

“So we started going over to Pembroke. We found the Haven crowd in Kiln Park in Tenby and it’s absolutely beautiful.

“I love the Welsh people, they’re all so lovely to us and I know a lot of people now from travelling every year. We meet the same people in the same restaurants and in the same places we go and everybody is just lovely, that’s why we keep going back there.

“It just makes sense for us.”

Olivia raised the issue nationally on Liveline on Monday, February 26, where she told Joe Duffy she has tried contacting Irish Ferries to speak to someone about the issue.

She said: “We always go over to Pembroke at Halloween, Easter, and we go for an extra few days in June or July. I was looking to book for Easter to go over and they told us there was insufficient wheelchair space.

“I rang three times and two of them didn’t know about it, but the third person did and said we’d need to get on to customer service.”

However, Olivia said she has not received an appropriate response.

She said: “It’s frustrating to say the least.”

Despite never having an issue travelling the route in the past, Olivia believes the recent issues reflect a major reduction in quality with no change in price. 

She said: “It’s still premium prices. It’s €376 each way so prices have stayed the same, there’s no difference.”

Olivia and her family have previously travelled the route on the wheelchair-accessible Oscar Wilde boat, which she describes as “beautiful”.

However, Olivia states there is no consistency and claims the boats can be switched at very little notice.

She said: “Oscar Wilde came on in June, it’s a beautiful boat.

“When that came in they said it would be for 20 months with a four year extension plan, and it hasn’t been running nine months and they’ve now changed to the Norbay for the Rosslare to Pembroke route.”  

The Irish Ferries website confirms the Norbay is the only ferry currently active on the Pembroke/Rosslare route.

However, Olivia said: “When I tried to book this morning, I could get Oscar Wilde today but tomorrow I can only get the Norbay, and when I tried to book my holiday for July, again it’s the Norbay.”

The website also states: “This ferry offers an economy class service on our Rosslare - Pembroke - Rosslare route, with limited passenger facilities.

“There are no lifts to the main passenger area and access is by steep staircase only and is therefore unsuitable for a person with a disability or reduced mobility, or young children and buggies.

“There is a simple restaurant and bar, a basic shop/reception desk, and en-suite cabins.”

According to Olivia, many people are affected by the lack of facilities on the boat.

She said: “When we travel it’s hundreds of families with young kids, it’s people heading over to Wales on holidays, people with their dogs.  

“It’s shocking, absolutely shocking. I’m so angry and upset, we’re travelling as I said three times a year so it’s handy to pack up the car, get on the boat, and when we get to the other side it’s ten minutes.”

The route is favoured by Olivia’s family due to her daughter Caoimhe’s condition, as she can be in severe pain when travelling in a car for long periods of time. 

Additionally, any fall or injury could be extremely dangerous for her.

And she isn’t the only one who finds the boat inaccessible.  

An elderly Irish Ferries passenger named Graham also spoke to Joe Duffy about the state of the facilities on the Norbay.

Graham - who is aged in his mid-70s - claimed he had to climb the stairs from reception to the passenger deck “on all fours” as he was afraid of falling and injuring himself.

He said: “I was on the thing last Tuesday, the Norbay, it’s not a nice boat. I booked it by the phone, I was late booking it and I asked is there a lift because I know what these type of ferries are like.

“I was told specifically that yes, there’s a lift.”

However, Graham only discovered the lack of facilities after boarding.

He said: “There are two flights of stairs up to the reception area. I’m 75-years-old and it’s quite difficult.

“The only good thing you’ve got is the handrail you can grab on either side. But when you take the stairs up from reception to the cabin, they are dangerous, the pitch of them and the fall of them, they’re incredible.”

Graham believes there is room for an elevator on the Norbay from reception to the first car deck.

He said: “I would imagine they could put in an elevator. I was sitting there watching as they lowered this little winch thing down, you could put a lift in there somewhere, I would have thought.”

Although Olivia says she and her family could use the Stena Line from Rosslare to Fishguard, it’s not as suitable due to a long drive on the other side.

Additionally, she believes an Irish company should be able to facilitate her daughter and others with limited mobility.

On the Irish Ferries website, no mention of the Norbay is made under “Ship information”.  

Regarding accessibility, their website states: “Whatever you need we will do our best to help make travel on our services as easy and comfortable as possible for passengers with reduced mobility and special needs.”

Customers with reduced mobility and special needs are asked to contact Irish Ferries within two working days before travel commences, and are advised to add “Passenger with Wheelchair” to the booking.

However, they also state: “Please be aware that there are limitations to the service we can reasonably offer and deliver.”  
According to Olivia, however, following these instructions isn’t enough to secure a wheelchair accessible boat.

“It’s just not good enough,” she said.

Photo: William Murphy. CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED. No changes.