43 MPs have signed a House of Commons Early Day Motion tabled by Alan Reid, Liberal Democrat MP for Argyll & Bute, which calls on CMAL to add the option of ‘Isle of Islay’ to the ballot for the name of the new Islay ferry.

Mr Reid said,

“I welcome CMAL’s decision to hold a ballot on the name of the new ferry. However, of the four alternatives CMAL have put on the ballot, only ‘Finlaggan’ has any connection with Islay. There is widespread support on Islay for naming the ferry ‘Isle of Islay’ with its Gaelic equivalent ‘Eilean Ile’. I hope that CMAL will listen to local opinion on Islay and to the 43 MPs who have signed this EDM and hold the ballot again, this time with ‘Isle of Islay added to the ballot.

NOTES:

CMAL stands for Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited, the state owned company which commissions ferries for CalMac. The four names put forward by CMAL are Finlaggan, Glendale, Locheil and Pioneer. The new Islay ferry is due to come into service in 2011. The ballot closed at midday on 16 November.

The text of the EDM is , “That this House, whilst welcoming the decision by Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) to hold a ballot on the name of the new ferry which is currently being built to serve Islay, notes the wishes of many islanders that, in line with the longstanding Caledonian MacBrayne tradition of naming a ferry after the island it was built to service, the ferry should be named the `Isle of Islay' in English and `Eilean Ile' in Gaelic; and calls on CMAL to add this option to its ballot.