Of course, project Neptune may lead to that, but we do not know yet. We can inform that with this inquiry.

I put the same question to you, David: do you have thoughts on the potential transfer of responsibility for interisland ferries to Transport Scotland, or, indeed, to a new body that could bring CMAL and Transport Scotland together?

Looking forward, knowing that you will have those vessels and given what you said about the different relationships, do you see the role of the Government and/or Transport Scotland being simply about tendering for contracts and provision of capital for on-going ferry procurement? Therefore, do you think that what should be decentralised is the management of the ferry service in terms of accountability and relationships with ferry users and local councils? Might that lead to a situation in which the management is unbundled but with a larger tender and contract? Could the day-to-day or month-to-month management of the service be decentralised if there were a sufficient number of high-quality new ferries to run those services? Is that your vision?

Would you not be that fussed if the management was separate between yourselves and the Western Isles, for example?

The committee’s delegates in Reykjavik met the Faroe Islands minister, who helped to explain their tunnel network. Have you talked to them about their experience, particularly about how private finance might be used in such an exercise?

I will stay with you, Councillor Lyall. There has been discussion of the possibility—I will not say that I necessarily agree with it—of transferring responsibility for interisland ferry services to Transport Scotland. Have you discussed that? What would be your response to it? Are you keen that local responsibility be maintained within the council?

Thank you very much. If you can leave that with us as part of our evidence, that will be very helpful.

You are giving us challenges as well, because you are taking forward the community voice to inform the islands connectivity plan. We, as your Parliament and as the committee that is responsible for transport, want to make sure that a light is shone on that area so that it can be fundamentally different. Hopefully, between us, taking things from different angles, we can shape the islands connectivity plan. We very much appreciate the work that you have done to date as volunteers.

We recognise that the community board is made up of volunteers and that you have an important task and responsibility. To do that work as volunteers is something that, naturally, we should recognise, so thank you very much for what you are doing.

Kirsty, thank you for joining us. Angus Duncan Campbell, I hope that you get back at some point—we can hear the howls of the wind outside. Thank you very much for taking part and sharing your views. That concludes the public part of our meeting. We now go into private session.

Our next agenda item is an evidence session as part of our inquiry into a modern and sustainable ferry service for Scotland. I refer members to the papers for the item.

This is the fifth evidence session in our inquiry into Scotland’s ferry services. Today, we are pleased to be joined by a panel of academics with specialist knowledge of maritime transport and ferries in Scotland who were members of the previous Scottish Government’s ferry expert group.

I welcome our panellists. Dr Alf Baird is former professor of maritime business and director of the maritime transport research group at Edinburgh Napier University; Neil Kay is professor emeritus in the economics department of the University of Strathclyde; and Roy Pedersen is an author and consultant. Thank you for accepting our invitation and for the written submissions that have been sent in. We are delighted to have you here.

We have allocated up to 75 minutes for this session. I will start by asking each of you to outline briefly what island and remote rural communities need from their ferry service. That is a fairly open question, but it gives you an opportunity to make some introductory remarks.

We will now hear from our second panel today as part of our inquiry into a modern and sustainable ferry service for Scotland. On behalf of the committee, I am pleased to welcome representatives of CalMac’s ferries community board. The board was established by CalMac in 2016. It is comprised of ferry users from across Scotland’s west coast and has responsibility for inputting into the ferry operator’s asset management and operational decision making.

Joining us in the room are Angus Campbell, chair of the board and representative for the CalMac ferry service network, and Angus Duncan Campbell, board member for the Isle of Cumbrae. Joining us remotely, we have Kirsty MacFarlane, board member for the Isle of Coll. Thank you very much for accepting our invitation; we are delighted to have you here. We have around 75 minutes for this session.

I will open by asking the chair to briefly outline the remit and role of the ferries community board and explain how members are appointed.

I am conscious of the time, so perhaps we can bring this session to a close. Angus Duncan Campbell, you may want to reply to Jackie Dunbar’s open questions and add anything else that you want, and we will then finish with the chair.

Got you.

Liam Kerr has a number of questions.