This article is from page 2 of the 2008-01-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
DECLAN Collier, CEO of the Dub- lin Airport Authority, came under strong criticism at the Dail Transport Committee as he defended his deci- sion not to inform the Shannon board of Aer Lingus’s plans to pull the Hea- throw route.
The DAA CEO said that when the Department of Transport contacted him in mid-June about Aer Lingus’s plan, the information was imparted in “strict confidence”’.
“At the time, Aer Lingus was the subject of a hostile takeover bid from Ryanair and it was critical that this
information was dealt with on a con- fidential basis,’ he said.
Clare Deputy Timmy Dooley (FF) asked, “What kind of action would Mr Collier take if he became aware that somebody was giving considera- tion to terminating a service 1f the sit- uation related to an airline other than Aer Lingus to Dublin Airport?”
“If I was given the information in the same circumstances as I received the information on Aer Lingus, I would have treated it in exactly the same way, said a defiant Mr Collier.
Deputy Dooley, however, did not accept the response.
“I do not think it 1s fair to view it
on the basis that the DAA is part of a large State organisation and that a hostile bid was in place. There are lines of demarcation. The Dublin Airport Authority 1s responsible for developing business at the airports. This was a commercial airline in a privatised environment and surely the lines of demarcation would not have put Mr Collier in that position?”’ he said.
Senator Shane Ross accused the DAA of regarding Shannon as its future competition and the news that Aer Lingus was withdrawing the Heathrow flight “was music to the authority’s ears because it would land
Shannon further in the manure”.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Shannon Airport Authority, Pat Shanahan, said Aer Lingus had been offered the same deal as Ryanair as far back as 2004.
Deputy Pat Breen (FG) asked if any incentive was offered after the Rya- nair deal?
According to Mr Shanahan, the air- line was made aware that, on the ba- sis of our restructuring programme in particular, costs at the airport would decrease.
‘Aer Lingus was aware of that but never engaged with us on a detailed level about it,” he said.