The Department of Infrastructure has refused to reveal what snags remain at the government’s new terminal in Liverpool.
Manx.News submitted an FoI request asking for the publication of the snagging list of ongoing issues, how many the passenger access bridge has been unavailable and how many seats the terminal has.
In its response, the DoI said it will not be revealing the snagging list despite admitting that there is “the need to hold public authorities to account for their stewardship of public resources and that disclosing it would “build public trust and transparency in the operation of the economy”.
In the end it decided: “While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the information is exempt from disclosure under section 30(2)(b) of the Act as it would prejudice the Department’s ongoing activities in relation to the project.”
As part of its reasoning for withholding the information, the DoI also said doing so would “protect the commercial interests of the Department of Infrastructure, whose commercially related functions need to be exercised in the wider context of the public interest”.
Seats
The DoI did however confirm how many seats the new terminal has, with 328 seats in its departure lounge.
This compares with Manannan’s total capacity of 850 passengers and crew, Ben-my-Chree’s capacity of 666 and Manxman’s passenger capacity of 948.
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