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Displaying items by tag: Defence Forces Review

#NewsUpdate - The Defence Forces Review 2018, in association with the School of Political Science and Sociology will be held in NUI Galway next week, on Thursday 22 November.

The event is also been held with the Irish Centre for Human Rights, at the National University of Galway. The Review entilted Peacekeeping & Peacemaking Interventions, is open to the public and free of charge to attend (registration at 9pm) for event starting at 10am in the college's Aula Maxima. 

2018 represents the 60th Anniversary of when in 1958 Irish troops were first deployed on a UN mission since the foundation of the State as Military Observers (UNMOs) in Lebanon. It is also the 40th Anniversary of an Irish Infantry Battalion being deployed to UNIFIL in South Lebanon, where the Defence Forces maintains a significant presence.

It is therefore fitting that this years edition of the DF Review should examine a key debate for our times, namely the evolution, development and indeed relevance of Peacekeeping and Peacemaking Interventions; a debate never more focused in view of the continuing catastrophic conflict in Syria and the ripple effects of same including the ongoing refugee crisis.

For further reading on the Review (incl. previous years to download) in addition for the event's full programme click the (pdf) to include list of speakers.

Published in News Update

About Brittany Ferries

In 1967 a farmer from Finistère in Brittany, Alexis Gourvennec, succeeded in bringing together a variety of organisations from the region to embark on an ambitious project: the aim was to open up the region, to improve its infrastructure and to enrich its people by turning to traditional partners such as Ireland and the UK. In 1972 BAI (Brittany-England-Ireland) was born.

The first cross-Channel link was inaugurated in January 1973, when a converted Israeli tank-carrier called Kerisnel left the port of Roscoff for Plymouth carrying trucks loaded with Breton vegetables such as cauliflowers and artichokes. The story, therefore, begins on 2 January 1973, 24 hours after Great Britain's entry into the Common Market (EEC).

From these humble beginnings however, Brittany Ferries as the company was re-named quickly opened up to passenger transport, then became a tour operator.

Today, Brittany Ferries has established itself as the national leader in French maritime transport: an atypical leader, under private ownership, still owned by a Breton agricultural cooperative.

Eighty five percent of the company’s passengers are British.

Key Brittany Ferries figures:

  • Turnover: €202.4 million (compared with €469m in 2019)
  • Investment in three new ships, Galicia plus two new vessels powered by cleaner LNG (liquefied natural gas) arriving in 2022 and 2023
  • Employment: 2,474 seafarers and shore staff (average high/low season)
  • Passengers: 752,102 in 2020 (compared with 2,498,354 in 2019)
  • Freight: 160,377 in 2020 (compared with 201,554 in 2019)
  • Twelve ships operating services that connect France, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain (non-Covid year) across 14 routes
  • Twelve ports in total: Bilbao, Santander, Portsmouth, Poole, Plymouth, Cork, Rosslare, Caen, Cherbourg, Le Havre, Saint-Malo, Roscoff
  • Tourism in Europe: 231,000 unique visitors, staying 2.6 million bed-nights in France in 2020 (compared with 857,000 unique visitors, staying 8,7 million bed-nights in 2019).