This article is from page 9 of the 2007-08-14 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 9 JPG
CALLS for the resignation of Fianna Fail ministers, the holding of an Aer Lingus EGM and for councillors to protest at the airport with banners came from an emergency meeting of the council last night.
Councillor Madeleine Taylor-Quinn proposed a motion on behalf on the Fine Gael members at the emergency meeting called by Mayor of Clare, Cllr Patricia McCarthy.
She called on the Minister for Fi- nance “to immediately call an EGM of Aer Lingus to discuss the matter and reverse this decision.”
She said that despite having a spa- tial strategy “the Government is about to allow the withdrawl of these critical slots which provide vital con- nectivity”.
Her colleague, Cllr Joe Arkins further proposed that if the slots are withdrawn that the Government lead a legal challenge to the decision.
He described news that a new route may be on the way to Paris as a “smoke and mirrors exercise’,
The Fine Gael members also asked that the council seek an immediate meeting with the Taoiseach on the matter, while Mayor Mccarthy told the meeting that she has made con- tact with all of the mayors in Tipper- ary, Limerick and Galway to seek a
joint meeting with the Fianna Fail leader.
Labour councillor, Pascal Fitzger- ald, called on the “mid-west minis- ters to state publicly that they will resign if these slots are taken from Shannon. People’s livelihoods are at stake and the Government is doing yatelee vb sree
Cllr Colm Wiley (FF) said that “calling does nothing. What I am proposing is that two members of this council go to the airport with placards and protest until we get what we want and rotate the protest so that there are members of this council there at all times until this 1s resolved.”
Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind) accused the Government of having “no function- al regional policy” while Fianna Fail councillor, Richard Nagle, said that the “only satisfactory outcome to this is the retention of our slots into Heathrow”.
He said the Fianna Fail councillors have jointly sent letters to the minis- ters for transport, tourism and trade and employment outlining the poten- tial seriousness of the consequences of the decision.
He said that the council “should call on the Taoiseach to recall his minis- ters and set up and interdepartmental eroup to deal with what can only be described as a crisis for this region.”