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No government talks on Heathrow link

This article is from page 2 of the 2007-12-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG

THE Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey has confirmed that he has held no discussions with his British Government counterpart to establish a subsidized service on the Shannon- Je (edevKey se celvicorn

The subsidy, known as a ‘public service obligation’ is seen by many observers as a last chance to secure the Shannon-Heathrow route.

However, Minister Dempsey told Fine Gael deputy, Dan Neville, “I have had no discussions to date with my UK counterpart concerning the establishment of a PSO on the Shan-

non-Heathrow route because such discussions would be premature.

“Ireland already has an air serv- ices Public Service Obligation (PSO) scheme in operation. The scheme provides for the subvention of air services from Dublin to Kerry, Gal- way, Knock, Sligo, Donegal and Derry.”

He added, ““The relevant EU Coun- cil Regulation allows a Member State to establish a PSO route in respect of scheduled air services to an airport serving a peripheral or development region in its territory, where such air services are considered vital for the economic development of the regions

concerned and where air carriers are not prepared to provide them on a commercial basis.

‘My department has recently writ- ten to the EU Commission with a view to exploring what the options if any exist for facilitating the provi- sion of air services to meet the con- nectivity requirements of the west of Ireland in a liberalised, competitive aviation market.

“My officials have requested an early meeting with the commission on the matter. Following that meet- ing, my department will be in a po- sition to advise me on appropriate contacts with the British authorities.

With regard to not being informed of the Aer Lingus decision to trans- fer Heathrow slots from Shannon to Belfast, this has been fully dealt with following the report of the Secretary General of my department into the matter.”

In response to a question from Dep- uty Pat Breen on the provision of the US customs and border protection facility at Shannon, Minister Demp- sey said, “The operation of these fa- cilities would be subject to an inter- governmental treaty to be concluded between the two countries and the advice I have received is that this would require new legislation.”

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