The Dail debate concerning Shannon-Heathrow and Aer Lingus’ decision to take Shannon’s Heathrow slots and move them to Belfast is currently under way.
It is expected that Deputies Collins, Cregan, Power and O’Dea will back the abandonment of Shannon by Aer Lingus.
Both Peter Power and John Cregan, speaking in the Dail chamber, have asked why Shannon’s Airport Authority were only able to come up with incentives after Aer Lingus’ decision to pull out of Shannon.
Dan Neville, (FG) accused the government of being economical with the truth, citing assurances made last year by the previous transport minister that the Government would intervene to protect national interests, prior to the privatisation of Aer Lingus
Dierdre Clune, TD made the point that there would be 33 daily flights from the NorthEast part of the island to Heathrow, while the South and Southwest would only have five.
Tom Hayse asked the Government why they had not appointed two board members to the board of Aer Lingus. He called on them to make the appointments, call an EGM and reverse the decision.
Noall Collins, FF while condemning the Aer Lingus Decision, he stated that he would accept the Government’s strategy of non intervention.
Beverly Cooper Flynn (independent) claimed that any intervention by the government to reverse the decision would distort the market for other regions in the country. She said that Knock airport are in talks to secure London routes, including Heathrow, and intervening to assist Shannon would put Knock at a disadvantage.
Labour party Michael D Higgins, calling the Government’s motion as weak, pointed out that because the Heathrow slots were allocated as part of intergovernmental talks, they were not the property of the airline. He claimed that this was re-affirmed by the House of Commons in 2003.
It was a case of “I told you so” for Sinn Fein’s Martin Ferris, pointing out that his party had warned of that state interests would be lost if Aer Lingus was to be privatised. He accused the government of misleading the people, and accused them also of being economical with the truth. He described what he called a “whispering campaign” claiming that those in the midwest were opposed to a peace dividend as dispicable. He welcomed a Belfast-Heathrow route, but said it should not be at the expense of Shannon. A Fianna Failler could be heard on the live feed making reference to “shooting” following Ferris’ speech.
Jimmy Deenihan (Fine Gael) pointed out the impact of the loss of Shannon-Heathrow on his constituency. He claimed that between 25 and 30 percent of customers at the famous Ballybunion Golf Course come via the Shannon to Heathrow route. He warned Fianna Fail midwest TDs that they would be judged on whether or not there were four Heathrow slots on January 1st.
Paidraig McCormack, asked the government why were they holding on to their share in Aer Lingus, why are they not using it to intervene. He claimed that 12,000 visitors to Galway come through Shannon each year (presumably from Heathrow). “What has happened at Shannon now can happen at Cork and Dublin at the will of the Executive of Aer Lingus.” he said.
A dispute has now erupted in the chamber over the order of business. Noel Dempsey is now speaking, with continued heckles in the background
Dempsey: This decision by Aer Lingus will not mean that the Shannon region will become a wasteland.
Dempsey : Aer lingus within it’ts legal right to make the decision. Government “procluded” from intervening in the move.
Noel Dempsey falsely claimed that a Fine Gael deputy in the Mid-West suggested that Cork slots (note the plural) be moved to Shannon. He neglected to mention that one of his own party colleagues, Tony Killeen made a similar suggestion on RTE news days after the Aer Lingus decision.
Dempsey: “The slots are not being disposed of, or are not being transposed.” “It is difficult for the opposition to listen to the truth”
Dempsey falsely claimed that it was claimed that 100,000 jobs would be lost as a result of the move of Heathrow slots to Belfast. This claim was never made, the number is closer to 10,000.
Dempsey: Shannon is well connected to London Gatwick and Luton.
Motion re Shannon and the development of the midwest region has now gone to a vote…
A local newspaper is claiming that there could be as many as 700 jobs lost at a major employer in the Mid-West employer.
