Neeson calls for return of Titanic service ship

12.01.00am GMT Sat 26th Nov 2005

East Antrim Alliance Assembly member Sean Neeson is calling on the Government to put in a bid for the purchase of the steamship Nomadic, built by Harland and Wolff to service the Titanic.

Mr Neeson, the party's enterprise spokesperson, said: "The ship is currently in the port of Cherbourg in France, and will be put up for auction in January. In recent times, the cost of purchase has been reduced considerably. There is a desire that she should be returned to her Belfast birthplace.

"It would make an enormous contribution to the proposed development of Titanic Quarter. Every effort must be made, in that context, to secure her return."

ENDS