This article is from page 51 of the 2012-06-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 51 JPG
THREE different groups made up of 28 people have been charged with responsibility for coming up with a new blueprint for an independent Shannon Airport.
The final make-up of the Shannon Airport Steering Committee and two task forces was revealed on Thursday last in a joint statement issued by Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar and Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton.
Together will overseeing the separation of Shannon from the Dublin Airport Authority, the three groups will also have responsibility for the re-alignment of tourism and enterprise support functions in the region.
The Steering Group is jointly chaired by Tom O’Mahony, Secretary General at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and John Murphy, Secretary General at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and will include senior officials from those Departments as well as the Departments of Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Environment, Community and Local Government.
The group has held its first meeting and is currently planning its work programme for the period ahead.
“The Government recently decided in principle to separate Shannon Airport from the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) and bring it together with Shannon Development to form a new entity with a commercial mandate in public ownership,” said Minister Varadkar.
“The Steering Group is charged with bringing forward proposals for the implementation of that decision, including the optimisation of the en- terprise development arrangements in the region, before the end of the year,” he added.
“We are delighted that so many high calibre people, experts in many different fields, are prepared to serve on the Steering Group and the two Task Forces along with the agencies,” said Minister Bruton. “We are grateful to them for giving of their time and effort to bring forward proposals for the implementation of the Government decision in relation to Shannon,” he added.