This article is from page 4 of the 2008-02-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
THE LATEST bid to reconnect Shannon’s air link to Heathrow has suffered a setback with news that Minister Noel Dempsey has not in- cluded the service on a list of appli- cants for EU Public Service Obliga- tion (PSO) funds.
But the Mayor of Clare, Councillor Patricia McCarthy (Ind), who heads
the Atlantic Connectivity Alliance, said that while the minister’s deci- sion was “disappointing, the route is a profitable one and I am confident that a carrier will be found and we will continue to work to achieve ere
It had been hoped that EU funds would be available to an airline will- ing to operate the Heathrow route out of Shannon under the PSO system.
Under EU legislation, governments can impose a PSO on a route if it is considered vital for the economic life of a particular region. PSOs are in place on routes between Dublin and Sligo, Donegal, Derry, Knock, Gal- way and Kerry.
But it emerged this week that the minister had not included the Heath- row slot in his application for a re- newal of a PSO on these routes for a
three-year period from July 2008.
Minister Dempsey said that offi- cials from the Department of Trans- port had discussed the possibility of having a PSO on the Shannon- Heathrow route with the European Commission. The minister said that the EU officials had pointed out that there were already regular services between Shannon and other airports in London.