The company has stressed that engineering is not an issue but warns that funding is the "key constraint".

The campaign for fixed links has gained momentum because of fears about ageing infrastructure and depopulation in the far north.

The council said its nine island communities relied on an inter-island transport network that was "increasingly under strain" and "requiring substantial capital investment".

So the current system needs investment, which they claim is too much, but the tunnels whose only major hurdle is a vast amount of funding somehow isn't too much?

Sounds like hypocritical contradictory bollocks to me in order to get a distracting shiny new toy.