Island's election hustings cancelled due to ongoing CalMac ferry disruption

The event in Bowmore on Saturday has been cancelled, with the Church of Scotland, which was hosting it in the town's Round Church, stating: "Apologies to all, but we are at the mercy of the CalMac schedule."

The move follows the ferry operator reducing the Islay route from two to one vessel because of the need to redeploy ferries across its west coast network while several are being repaired or maintained.

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This has included the island's brand new ferry, Isle of Islay, being moved to the Barra route shortly after it entered service between Kennacraig in Kintyre and Port Askaig in Islay.

Islanders and businesses have complained this has caused major problems, especially while bookings were temporarily suspended when the changes were being made, which they said had deterred people from travelling.

Islay Community Council ferry committee secretary Jim Porteous said: "We have made clear to CalMac that many are suffering distress, problems, extra costs, business loss and frustration.

"Islay does not have the luxury of alternative route options.

"All the hyped benefits of the arrival of the new ferry have been completely negated by her removal 'to provide a better service elsewhere'.

"The situation in which Islay is being left is not acceptable and is continuing to cause damage, disruption, loss of income.

"The route needs some certainty to prevent further damages."

Argyll and Bute Scottish Liberal Democrat candidate Alan Reid, who was among those due to have taken part in the hustings, said: "For some of the other candidates, this will be an insight into what islanders experience all the time at the hands of the SNP.

"I cannot begin to express how let down islanders have been over recent weeks.

“What is needed now is to implement the Scottish Liberal Democrats' plan for a 30-year rolling programme of ferry construction and port infrastructure upgrades."

Fèis Ìle, The Islay Festival, which celebrates its 40th anniversary next month, said the ten-day event would go ahead so long as Isle of Islay and Finlaggan, the island's previous main vessel, operated then as planned.

Spokesperson Ben Shakespeare said: "With fewer than six weeks to go, those assurances have not yet been forthcoming.

"We also have serious concerns about the ongoing ferry crisis that threatens both our visitors' ability to reach the island and the wider Islay community that depends on reliable connections year-round.

"Closed bookings are making the islands look closed for business."

Meantime, whisky haulage firm B Mundell, which operates in Islay, said the ferry disruption was causing a "devastating and ongoing impact".

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General manager Matthew Mundell said:“This week alone, we have lost 27 per cent of our allocated freight capacity on the Kennacraig-Islay route.

"To put that into context, the US tariffs on Scotch whisky and the global fuel price volatility caused by conflict in the Middle East are serious challenges for our sector but the damage CalMac is doing to our business on a daily basis now exceeds both of those combined."

CalMac said its booking system was no longer closed.

Its spokesperson said: “Islay has been impacted by the unprecedented network-wide challenges we’ve faced recently, and we acknowledge and apologise for the disruption caused by the reduction to a single vessel service.”

“With more vessels returning to service, we’re working towards restoring two vessels to Islay in the coming days and aim to share these plans on Thursday.

"Plans remain in place for Isle of Islay and Finlaggan to operate on the route throughout Feis Ile and into summer.

"The size of these vessels means the festival will have more capacity than it ever has before as it celebrates 40 years.”