THE public has still not been given the full facts on the CalMac ferries fiasco, the chair of the committee which grilled Nicola Sturgeon today has said.

The First Minister gave evidence to MSPs for almost two hours this morning into the saga of two boats ordered from the Ferguson Marine yard in Port Glasgow in 2015.

Meant to cost £97 million and be in service in 2018, both are still being built and are likely to cost more than £250m and take until 2024 to sail.

During her evidence, Ms Sturgeon told the public audit committee she would try to supply a range of new documents it requested in light of her answers.

She also expressed her regret that the contract had gone so badly awry, causing significant fallout for the island communities left dependent on ageing, unreliable vessels instead.

Labour MSP Richard Leonard, the committee convener, said later: “This morning’s evidence to the Committee confirmed that there are still gaps in the information available to the public - information about the key decisions made which are pertinent to our scrutiny. 

“The First Minister made a commitment to seek to provide this additional information and we look forward to receiving this in the hope that it will improve transparency and understanding.

“The Committee will then take time to reflect on all the evidence received before reporting on our conclusions over the coming months.”

Tory committee member Sharon Dowey said afterwards: “This was Nicola Sturgeon at her evasive worst. 

 “Despite repeatedly saying that the ‘buck stops with her’, she dodged and blustered her way through the questioning and shamefully couldn’t even bring herself to say the word ‘sorry’.

 “She couldn’t tell us how much this shambles has cost the taxpayer, or promise that the already colossal figure would not continue to rise. 

“She deflected when asked if the bidding process was rigged in Ferguson’s favour - as the recent BBC exposé suggests - instead passing the buck to Audit Scotland to discover if there had been corruption in her own government.

“And she was unable to confirm whether minutes were recorded at a key meeting [in May 2017] with [Ferguson’s boss] Jim McColl, a meeting which took place without a government official present, and which - if no minutes exist - could break the ministerial code.

“As we saw in the Salmond inquiry, it appears the First Minister’s usually meticulous memory fails her when it comes to crucial meetings.

“This whole affair has been a catalogue of failures from the start, and it is now clearer than ever that we need a full public inquiry to get to the bottom of it.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton added:  “Nicola Sturgeon launched a vessel with painted windows. 

“Five years on, the First Minister’s ‘regret’ that those ferries still haven’t actually arrived won’t cut it for island communities. They have had to navigate well over 7,000 cancelled sailings this year. It’s become so bad that islanders are even considering setting up their own ferry company.

“Islanders might have more hope of getting from A to B if Nicola Sturgeon hadn’t launched more independence campaigns than ferries.

“I think ministers should be out of office already for the delays, the secrecy and the cost but the First Minister thinks it’s not enough.”