This article is from page 14 of the 2007-09-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
PRESSURE is mounting on Clare’s four elected members of Dail Eire- ann to make a concrete stand on the Shannon/Heathrow crisis.
Following a heated debate at last night meeting of Clare County Coun- cil, Clare TD’s Tony Kileen (FFP), Timmy Dooley (FF), Pat Breen (FG) and Joe Carey (FG) were described as “ducking and diving” and having “forked tongues” on the issue.
Speaking at the meeting, north Clare Cllr Martin Lafferty (Ind), said the onus should be on the coun- ties TD’s, rather that the County Councillors, to voice their concerns ODN BON ISw Ie CoR
“I have listened to this debate morning in and morning out. I don’t think that this is the remit of council. We have a representative democracy and the people who should be doing the job and put their necks on the line are the TDs.
“We are muddying the waters by sticking our necks out,” said Cllr Feouae
“If they acted the way that they talk this could be overturned in five seconds. But they have been ducking and diving with forked tongues.”
Speaking on the subject, Labour councillor, Pascal Fitzgerald, said that he believes that the government
TDs will support the decision.
“We have Clare TDs on the radio talking about this everyday with dif- ferent stories.
‘There is only one man up in Dub- lin who can change this, and he doesn’t give a crap about Shannon,” said Fitzgerald. “I believe that the TDs will support the Government. I believe that Shannon is gone unless our TDs stand up for the people of this region.”
Meanwhile, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) indicated that he believed that a deal would be struck in the future which will maintain good connectiv- ity for the region, but could not con- firm when this might be formalised.
Responding to the comments, County Manager, Alex Fleming, re- acted positively.
“Tl think that this case is winnable, there has been example of people power winning out in the past, one example is the Western Rail Corri- dor,” he said.
‘We can take it from today’s meet- ing that there 1s unanimous support and we will be doing our utmost to continue this campaign.”
A motion was agreed to calling for An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, he meet with the council on the deci- sion while a letter urging support will also be sent to every TD in the Western Region.