This article is from page 1 of the 2012-03-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 1 JPG
THE leading agency linked with the proposed public-private partnership takeover of Shannon Airport has heard the whole process to chart a new future for Clare’s international airport described as “a complete farce”.
Condemnation of the Booz and Company report into the future of the airport, which was commissioned by transport minister Leo Varadkar and published last Wednesday, has come at Clare County Council level.
Councillors and officials delivered a withering response at a specially convened meeting of the local authority’s Special Policy Committee on Enterprise and Tourism.
“The report before us is a complete farce,” blasted former Mayor of Clare, Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind).
“They are treating us like mushrooms – keeping us in the dark and feeding us you know what,” said Cllr PJ Ryan, amid fears that the local authority might pull back from a commitment to embrace a takeover of the airport.
“What are they trying to keep back from us? Did they keep back stuff from us about the figures? Did they keep back from us how the DAA were milking Shannon over the years? What is the real story? We don’t really know,” added Cllr Ryan.
These fears have been backed up by Clare County Council Director of Service, Ger Dollard, who said “the biggest issue” was that “all financial data is effectively taken out of the report, which it makes it very difficult to make any type of assessment whatsover”.