This article is from page 4 of the 2007-10-09 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
THE grassroots of the Fianna Fail party are planning to revolt if the Shannon-Heathrow crisis is not re- solved.
Cllr Pat McMahon said that he had no problem leaving the party but was waiting until every avenue had been exhausted before making that deci- sion. “If on January 14 there is no flight to Heathrow out of Shannon, preferably Aer Lingus, I’m out.”
Kilrush Cllr Tom Prenderville pre- dicts a tough time ahead for the party in the up coming local elections.
“If there is not an improvement in the Shannon situation, there would be a sizeable number of Fianna Fail representatives re-looking at wear- ing the Fianna Fail badge at the next
local election, and it will be hard to find people to go forward for them. It could dismantle the whole Fianna Fail party in Clare,” he said.
He referred also to the “futile ina- bility of the Fianna Fail organisation to attract young men and women as it has lost its local mandate.”
Fianna Fail TD Timmy Dooley said he understood the frustration of the political members and party support- ae
“We are elected to fight on behalf of the people of Clare, not to resign,” he said. “That is our responsibility and one I take seriously.”
Junior Minister Tony Killeen said he too could understand why public representatives and supporters are disturbed.“People are exerting as much pressure as they can. Fianna
Fail public representatives are genu- inely interested in a positive outcome and are doing whatever they can in their own role.”
“IT still believe that the approach has to be entirely dependent on fighting the battle on commercial grounds and I don’t accept Aer Lingus has a strong commercial argument for Bel- fast, nor do | think they have suffi- cient steps to improve their situation in Shannon,” he said.
He added that the four factors that made Shannon less profitable could be addressed.
Deputy Dooley admitted that the decision by the Minister for Trans- port to appoint two new directors to the board of Aer Lingus was too late for Shannon.
“It is disappointing that these direc-
tors weren’t there sooner. Whether or not they would have been able to make any difference is not clear as many made decision without board approval.
“While it would appear too late to prevent the termination of the Shan- non to Heathrow line, it may be pos- sible for the directors to establish new priorities for the management and I would be hopeful that this could in- clude a reappraisal of the Shannon to Heathrow slots.”
Meanwhile, Mayor of Clare Patri- cia McCarthy (Ind) has said that the Government has just days to salvage the Shannon to Heathrow service.
Cllr McCarthy said that a deadline of October 11 has been set for receipt of submissions regarding slots at Heathrow in 2008.