This article is from page 3 of the 2005-11-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 3 JPG
SPEAKING in the Dail in 1947, Fine Gael leader James Dillon famously forecast that rab- bits would over-run the runways in Rineanna.
Fianna Fail folk scoffed at the very sugges- tion — it would never happen, they roared, for Shannon was a wonder of their world, a Fianna Fail airport.
They were the great defenders of Shannon Airport — defence that manifested itself on many occasions down the years. It’s as if there was a wall around Rineanna to keep at bay in- fidels who were out to undermine the jewel of
Irish aviation.
In the fifties, the Government of President Harry Truman wanted to annul an agreement that ensured Shannon had to be used as a stopo- ver for transatlantic traffic into Ireland. Fianna Fail said no.
The stopover threat was there again in the early seventies and the Shannon Airport Action Committee circled the wagons to great affect.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Clare’s first political citizen, Dr. Paddy Hillery, fa- mously told a delegation of airport activists in the Old Ground Hotel that the party would al- ways safeguard Shannon Airport.
Fianna Fail were true to this principal in
Paddy Hillery’s time, but not in our time of the ‘90s and early millennium. All because, under Fianna Fail’s watch, Shannon Airport has been dealt two of the biggest blows in its eight-dec- ade history.
The great Fianna Fail defenders have let their suard down — the great Shannon Wall around the sacred cow that was the airport has come tumbling down. The former hub of the aviation world is not a jewel in the Fianna Fail crown anymore.
And all this in the space of a dozen years. Minister for Transport Maire Geoghegan Quinn said in October 1992 that the compul- sory stopover was not “up for negotiation” and
‘“wouldn’t be back on the political agenda”’.
Eight months later, her successor, Brian Co- wen, showed how empty this promise was when he abolished the compulsory stopover.
Now comes the decision to end the bi-lateral agreement that allowed one-for-one transatlan- tic flights into Shannon and Dublin.
And again, it happened under Fianna Fail’s watch. That wall has come tumbling down al- right — the night and day watchmen that were Fianna Fail activists defending the stopover in their own control tower are not what they used to be.
Now, they can only hope that rabbits don’t over-run Rineanna’s runways.