No acknowledgement has been issued to Clare County Council from either the Taoiseach and Tanáiste to a request to hold a meeting with the county’s first citizen, Council Chief Executive and Oireachtas members to discuss the future of Shannon Airport.
On Monday, it emerged that no reply has been forthcoming from either Taoiseach Micheál Martin (FF) or Tanáiste Leo Varadkar (FG) one month on from Clare County Council writing a letter to seek an urgent meeting in the aftermath of Aer Lingus’ decision to close its cabin crew base at Shannon Airport.
Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council, Cllr Mary Howard (FG) said the county’s seven Oireachtas members have not responded to requests to assist in organising this meeting.
Clare councillors on Monday debated two motions related to Shannon Airport. The first tabled by Cllr Howard and co-signed by Cllr PJ Ryan (IND), Cllr Alan O’Callaghan (FF), Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG) and Cllr Gabriel Keating (FG) appealed for Government intervention to reverse the Aer Lingus move and to secure the retention of early morning and late evening Heathrow slots plus transatlantic connectivity.
Similar sentiments were included in a proposal from Cllr Pat O’Gorman (FF) who wanted urgent engagement between the Council, Shannon Group and the Government regarding the cabin crew base, Aer Lingus jobs and connectivity to London, New York and Boston.
Cllr Howard said there was a “deafening” silence from Clare’s Oireachtas members in recent weeks. She recalled previous protests held for Shannon Airport but warned the situation presently “is more profound or dangerous for the Mid-West”. More noise needs to come from the Oireachtas members, Cllr Ryan believed., “Aer Lingus is now a foreign airline with an Irish name which is a problem”.
Nothing is happening at Shannon Airport “only the odd bale of silage being made to keep the grass down, it is a pure shame to see an International Airport gone the way it is,” Cllr O’Gorman commented. He flagged that business executives don’t want to fly into Cork or Dublin when their business is located in Shannon.
Aer Lingus’ mind will not be changed by Clare politicians, Cllr Michael Begley (IND) stated. “Shannon is here and it’s here to stay, it is not going anywhere but it has to be made viable to get the best for the Mid-West”. The Clonlara man said the closure of the cabin crew base was not “the end of the world” and emphasis needed to be placed on reinstating routes to Heathrow, Boston and New York. “There is more ways of killing a cat that chalking it with butter,” he said.
Both the Taoiseach and Tanáiste are “forgetting about us”, Cllr Joe Cooney (FG) remarked when he discovered no response had been issued by either party leader since the special meeting of the local authority earlier this month. Agreement was echoed by Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF), “there is an awful lot of angst, that is there because we as councillors feel national politicians are not getting this one including our own”.
Cllr PJ Kelly (FF) reiterated his view that Clare’s Oireachtas members put their party whip on the line for Shannon, “the seven Oireachtas members need to go to Cusack Park and put on the Clare jersey, Joe Cooney might have them spare anyway”.
Little impact has been evident by the Oireachtas members, Cllr Gerry Flynn (IND) surmised. “Various Governments have successfully dismantled Shannon over the years, we’ve no national carrier or national aviation policy, these decisions have destroyed Shannon but helped Dublin Airport”.
Solutions are to be found in the Copenhagen Report, Cllr Pat McMahon (FF) flagged. Consideration to stopping the Dublin Coach must be put on the table, Cllr John Crowe (FG) suggested, “We need to make sure that the people stay in our area by stopping the green and blue buses going to Dublin and taking our passengers to Dublin Airport”.
