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Highlands & Islands MSP, Rhoda Grant, welcomes the news that the Ocean Great White rig,  en-route from Singapore to the Kishorn Yard in Wester Ross is the start of a new engagement between the yard and the oil and gas sector. The yard which has been dormant for a while was last in use in the 1990s when the support structures for the Skye Bridge were built there. In 1978 the Kishorn Yard was utilised in the construction of the largest moveable man made structure in the world when the Ninian Central platform was build. At that time up to 4000 people were employed on the site.

Rhoda said ” This is excellent news and I hope this first major contract will herald a new beginning for the Kishorn Port which was a company formed in 2008 by Ferguson Transport and Leith’s Scotland. As well as the building of the iconic Ninian Central, other smaller projects were undertaken, but this is the first major contract for 40 years. If the senior Management at Kishorn Port can attract contracts such as this ,then there is a real possibility that the local economy around the scattered communities of Wester Ross will prosper again with new found jobs, which in turn attract more workers and then more money is spent in the area locally.

” This is positive news and further supports my plea some months ago for the upgrade of the road that extends between Achnasheen and Kishorn (A890/A896). If we are to promote the availability of this location as a future specialist refurbishment yard for the oil and gas sector we have to do something about the infrastructure, starting with the roads.

The rig is being made ready for a drilling programme early next year West of Shetland.

Highlands & Islands Regional MSP, Rhoda Grant asked The Cabinet Secretary for Government Business and Constitutional Relations, Mike Russell MSP, during the Brexit statement in the Scottish Parliament yesterday, (18th December) what plans they had for opening up new freight routes to the continent for Scottish produce in the event of a No Deal Brexit. She went on to ask which Ports and routes are the Scottish Government looking at as alternatives to Dover and  what boats are they hoping to procure given they cannot find boats to fulfil their own routes and services?

The Cabinet Secretary advised that the Government would have no trouble finding boats as they were different to the ones required for the Western Isles and easily found.

Rhoda Grant said “ This is rather ironic. The boat we asked for to cover the Western Isles route from Ullapool to Stornoway was a freight ferry which would in turn free up the Loch Seaforth as a passenger ferry.

“It would appear when there is a need for a freight vessel to be found to provide lifeline services to the Western Isles, a ferry cannot be found. However, when we require to move freight to the continent from Scotland, that’s no bother and a number can easily be found. This just shows the level of regard the Scottish Government have for the needs of the economy in the Western Isles.

Rhoda Grant concluded “While they are right to make contingencies for a No Deal Brexit and getting our produce to Europe, I would expect them to have the same regard for our fragile island communities who need reliable and accessible lifeline services.

Delighted to meet with and talk through the role of MSPs with the 2nd Inverness (Kingsmills) Scout Group

Motion Number: S5M-14757
Lodged By: Rhoda Grant
Date Lodged: 14/11/2018

Title: Marion Wallace Dunlop

Motion Text:

That the Parliament acknowledges the role played by Inverness-born, Marion Wallace Dunlop, a key member of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), and the first suffragette hunger striker; notes that Marion was arrested in 1909 after using a rubber stamp to print the words “Votes for Women” on a wall of St Stephen’s Hall in the House of Commons; understands that she was jailed at Holloway Prison for her actions and went on hunger strike for the suffragette cause; acknowledges her strenuous work in securing women the vote, and is pleased to note that she is being remembered this week as part of Parliament Week at Westminster.

You may remember Inverness constituent Mary Ramsay who has Essential Tremor and is campaigning to get ground breaking technology brought to Scotland – ideally to Ninewells Hospital.
The Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) technology uses MRI imaging to guide high powered, focused ultrasound to a very small point to alleviate conditions with tremor.
Molecules are vibrated extremely quickly, which creates intense local heat. The equipment allows clinicians to target a very specific focal point – with very little heating produced in front of and behind that point, so only the targeted tissue is affected.
A surgery team at Imperial Healthcare NHS Trust, London, already uses the equipment and has performed this procedure on 16 patients successfully reducing their tremors in every case.
The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) has assessed this technology. It has been approved for the treatment of essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease in the USA and in Europe.
Mary has now launched a petition (see link below) and is currently lodging another petition with the Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee.
Please sign this to help bring this to Scotland.

Photo shows Rhoda with Mary

https://tinyurl.com/yaugwzhx

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