PHANTOM GUIDES A MENACE FOR TRADE

Boatmen's fury over new Skellig Michael delay as no-one to show tourists round

- BY NICK BRAMHILL

THE Office of Public Works has come under fire after the start of the already delayed visitor season to Skellig Michael had to be postponed once again as there were no tour guides in place on the island.

The UNESCO world heritage site - which gained a new audience after featuring in the Star Wars films - has been closed off to tourists since May 10, the date it was originally scheduled to open up to visitors, due to a bitter legal dispute over landing permits.

The start of the four-and-a-half-month landing season was initially delayed after the OPW was issued with legal proceedings from three tenderers who were unsuccessful in an open competition to award boat licences.

The OPW maintained that it wasn't in a position to legally issue landing permits to the 15 successful boatmen whilst legal proceedings were in place.