The High Court has cleared the way for passenger landings to resume at Skellig Michael after allowing the Office of Public Works to conclude 2025 contracts with 15 successful boat operators.
The ruling arose from challenges brought by Atlantic Endeavour Ltd and SMBT Ltd, trading as Skellig Michael Boat Trips, after they were unsuccessful in the OPW competition for landing permits. Each successful operator was intended to be allowed to land up to 12 passengers per day during the season, which runs from mid-May to the end of September.
The two unsuccessful tenderers began judicial review proceedings on 14 April 2025. Under public procurement rules, that automatically prevented the OPW from concluding the disputed contracts. The OPW interpreted the suspension as also preventing it from issuing any landing permits, with the result that part of the 2025 season had already been lost.
The key practical question before Mr Justice Garrett Simons was how long the proposed contracts would last. The tender documents referred to a framework arrangement lasting up to five years, but the court held that the actual pro forma contract the successful operators had agreed to sign was expressly limited to the 2025 landing season.
That finding mattered because concluding the contracts would prevent the unsuccessful tenderers from seeking to have the 2025 contracts set aside. Their remedy for that season would instead be damages. However, their challenges concerning 2026 and later seasons would remain open.
The court also accepted an OPW admission that any breach of EU procurement law established at trial would be treated as sufficiently serious for the purposes of a damages claim.
Balancing the competing interests, the judge found that the limited prejudice to the unsuccessful operators was outweighed by the impact of continued closure on the successful tenderers, the local economy and the public interest.
The suspension was therefore lifted, allowing the OPW to issue permits for the remainder of the 2025 season. The substantive procurement challenge remained listed for trial from 21 July 2025.