Following yet another in the prolonged series of stonewalling responses to his parliamentary questions attempting to discover the Deputy First Minister’s conclusions on the future of the Gourock-Dunoon passenger ferry, Jamie McGrigor, Highlands and Islands MSP is now writing directly to the DFM, Nicola Sturgeon herself.
The DFM had made it publicly known that she would announce her decision by the end of 2013 – a decision now over three months late.
The recent exchange of parliamentary question and answer between Jamie McGrigor and the permanent dead-bat of Trnasort Minister, Keith Brown was as follow:
25 March 2014
Index Heading: Transport Scotland
Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party): To ask the Scottish Government , further to the answer to questions S4W-17786, S4W-19755 and S4W-19947 on 11 October 2013, 26 February 2014 and 11 March 2014 respectively and in light of the answer to S4W-17768, which stated that “the Deputy First Minister has indicated that she intends to reach a conclusion on the way forward by the end of the year”, whether a conclusion was reached by then and, if so, when this will be communicated and, if not, what the reason is for the delay.
(S4W-20128)
Mr Keith Brown MSP:
I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-19947 on 11 March 2014, to S4W-19755 on 26 February 2014, to S4W-17786 on 6 November 2013 and to S4W-17356 on 3 October 2013. I have no further information to provide at this time. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at HYPERLINK “http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx” http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx. [Ed: Note that the Transport Minister's reference to question ‘S4W-17768’ is a clerical mistake.]
The translation of this ministerial response is: ‘I refer you to my previous recorded failures to answer your questions and fail to do so again today’.
The key point is: ‘I have no more information to provide at this time.’ This is the Transport Minister effectively saying that it’s all down to the DFM and he has no idea where she is on the matter.
This is the reason why Jamie McGrigor is now writing directly to the DFM – who must herself answer for herself, rather than repeatedly sending out the Transport Minister to play yet another dead ball. This conduct really is an affront to parliamentary democracy.
The DFM regularly makes much of her own fearlessness. It is now three months beyond time for her to demonstrate that fearlessness is making known her decision on the future of the provision for this contentious service.
New parliamentary questions from Jamie McGrigor
Jamie McGrigor is also determinedly continuing to pursue issues related to the outcomes of the extravagantly unnecessary additional deployment of the MV Coruisk to the Gourock-Dunoon passenger service, as a political pacification of the Dunoon Ferry Action Group.
This week the MSP has tabled a new series of parliamentary questions:
Question S4W-20491: Jamie McGrigor, Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Date Lodged: 01/04/2014
To ask the Scottish Government whether the MV Coruisk will be deployed on the Gourock-Dunoon route in winter 2014-15 and on the Wemyss Bay-Rothesay route.
Current Status: Expected Answer date 15/04/2014
Question S4W-20490: Jamie McGrigor, Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Date Lodged: 01/04/2014
To ask the Scottish Government, while MV Coruisk was deployed on the Dunoon-Gourock route, how many scheduled sailings of the MV (a) Ali Cat and (b) Argyll Flyer were anticipated; how many were completed; how many were late, and how many were cancelled (i) due to weather conditions, (ii) for technical reasons and (iii) due to unavailability of the shoreside infrastructure in Gourock.
Current Status: Expected Answer date 15/04/2014
Question S4W-20488: Jamie McGrigor, Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Date Lodged: 01/04/2014
To ask the Scottish Government how many passengers travelled on the MV Coruisk on the Gourock-Dunoon route.
Current Status: Expected Answer date 15/04/2014
Question S4W-20487: Jamie McGrigor, Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Date Lodged: 01/04/2014
To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions the MV Coruisk was deployed on the Dunoon-Gourock route to cover for the MV Ali Cat or the MV Argyll Flyer when they were unable to operate due to weather conditions and on how many occasions the MV Coruisk was late.
Current Status: Expected Answer date 15/04/2014
Question S4W-20486: Jamie McGrigor, Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Date Lodged: 01/04/2014
To ask the Scottish Government how many scheduled peak sailings from Monday to Saturday it anticipated for the MV Coruisk on the Dunoon-Gourock route; how many scheduled sailings took place and how many sailings were cancelled, (a) as a result of weather conditions, (b) for technical reasons or (c) due to unavailability of the shoreside infrastructure in Gourock.
Current Status: Expected Answer date 15/04/2014
Question S4W-20485: Jamie McGrigor, Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Date Lodged: 01/04/2014
To ask the Scottish Government what the cost to Argyll Ferries Limited was of deploying the MV Coruisk on the Gourock-Dunoon route.
Current Status: Expected Answer date 15/04/2014
Question S4W-20484: Jamie McGrigor, Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Date Lodged: 01/04/2014
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the MV Coruisk was deployed on the Dunoon-Gourock route in light of advice from CalMac that it was not well suited to the route and there was no guarantee that it would provide a more reliable service.
Current Status: Expected Answer date 15/04/2014
