The Supreme Court has affirmed the High Court’s orders in two appeals by Island Ferries Teoranta concerning charges for ferry use of harbours at Ros a’ Mhíl and Cill Rónáin on Inis Mór. The Court upheld damages arising from the Ros a’ Mhíl dispute and rejected the company’s challenge to Galway County Council’s charges at Cill Rónáin. No appeal succeeded.
At Ros a’ Mhíl, a 2003 order replaced annual charges for larger passenger vessels with a €1.20 charge per passenger. The High Court had found that the Minister set the new charges principally to address a deficit across the State’s five fishery harbours, rather than to price use of Ros a’ Mhíl itself. The Supreme Court held that this purpose fell outside the delegated power under the Fishery Harbour Centres Act 1968. It also upheld findings that the charging arrangements were manifestly unfair, including because they failed to account reasonably for Island Ferries’ public service contract and produced a sharp shift in the harbour’s operating burden onto ferry operators.
The charges had not been increased for more than a decade, the Court noted, and an increase was not inherently unlawful. The defect was the purpose and manner of this particular increase. The Court did not set a replacement fee or decide what a fair charge should be.
After Island Ferries refused to pay the new charges, a vessel was detained for 47 days. The Supreme Court upheld the High Court’s conclusion that this was trespass because the charges were invalid and could not justify the detention. It also left intact the damages award: €67,243 in special damages and €25,000 in general damages. The Court agreed that the evidence did not establish misfeasance in public office; the officials had acted in good faith. The damages arose from the actionable detention, not simply from the invalid charges.
At Cill Rónáin, Galway County Council introduced a €0.80 charge per passenger from 2012 after a new harbour was completed. The High Court had rejected Island Ferries’ challenge, and the Supreme Court affirmed that decision. It held the council had statutory authority to impose the charge and that its decision, made after debate and in light of local responsibilities, was within the permitted range. The council subsidised harbour running costs by €70,000 annually; the charge was intended to contribute to operating and maintenance costs, not recover the harbour’s capital cost.
The Court also upheld the finding that the council had not abused its dominant position in harbour services on the Aran Islands. The same passenger charge applied across ferry operators and other passenger services, and the council’s subsidy reduced the amount charged. The Court affirmed the High Court orders in both cases.