This article is from page 18 of the 2007-06-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 18 JPG
CLARE Mayor Flan Garvey will meet with Nova Scotia’s tourism minister this week to discuss the possibility of establishing a direct air link between the
west of Ireland and
the Canadian prov-
nNeon
The Shannon-
Halifax link was
first proposed last
August when the
two public’ rep-
resentatives met
at the Milwaukee
Irish Festival in
Wisconsin. It 1s anticipated that this week’s meet-
ing will lead to a submission being made to a transat- lantic carrier regarding the proposed os ats (Len
Commenting on the proposal, Minister Len Goucher, a former em- ployee of Air Canada, said that the establishment of a direct flight from Nova Scotia to the West of Ireland would be of huge benefit to both re- gions.
“I would love to see a direct air link being established between our provincial capital of Halifax and
Shannon. Air Canada currently flies from Halifax to London but it is my intention to push for a similar service directly into Ireland,” he said. Mayor Garvey highlighted the cul- tural links between Nova Scotia and Ireland and _ said that a direct air service would not only serve to ce- ment these links but would provide a platform to boost tourism on _ both sides of the Atlan- non Nova Scotia 1s located on Cana- da’s south-eastern coast and is the country’s second smallest province with a population on just under one million people. Thousands of Irish people emigrated to the region dur- ing the 18th and 19th centuries. An estimated 500-1000 Nova Scotians are fluent Irish speakers. Most of these live in Antigonish County or on Cape Breton Island. Mayor Garvey is scheduled to meet with Minister Goucher in Halifax on Friday.