This article is from page 8 of the 2013-01-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
THERE is no role for Shannon Airport and its facilities in the international humanitarian relief effort, according to a feasibility report carried out by Irish Aid.
Plans to use the airport as a hub for storing aid material and medicine, and as an emergency training ground were included in the Programme for Government but rejected in the report by Ireland’s official overseas development programme.
According to the report, the 42 stakeholders from 27 different organisations showed a minimal degree of interest in using the airport as either an aid hub or an emergency training centre as they considered the airport fraught with “expected high cost and uncertainty”.
The cost of running an international aid storage hub at Shannon International Airport for just one year would be the equivalent of providing humanitarian aid to more than 23,000 people.
The humanitarian aid organisations consulted also maintained there was no major gap in the existing structures.
The stakeholders consulted did not see Shannon Airport as a strong site to fill a humanitarian role nor did they believe their organisation “would use, manage or fund such a role”.
The report stated that physical locations are primarily chosen due to cost, ease of access and proximity to disaster affected areas.
The majority of humanitarian headquarters are located in or near major donor capitals or other strategic cities.
Many humanitarian actors also pre-position supplies close to commonly affected areas to enable faster response time and less expenditure on transportation costs.
The report outlined deployment costs when delivering emergency humanitarian aid from Shannon compared to other countries with hubs.
The air cost per tonne from Shannon to Cameroon for example was 337 per cent more expensive than the cheapest option available, and 389 per cent more expensive in delivering goods to Haiti.
In its overall rating of the four possible roles proposed for the airport under the humanitarian umbrella, the pre-positioning of relief items and medical items at the airport was rated at 31 per cent and 39 per cent effectively.
A training centre was given a 53 per cent rating, while an EU Civil Protection base was given a 57 per cent rating.
While it was estimated that the benefits outweighted the risks of the role of a training centre in Shannon, the difference was marginal.
According to the feasibility study, many humanitarian actors saw the airport’s distance from major commercial traffic routes as inconvenient for participant travel.
It also seemed redundant to them to develop a centre in Europe when the greater focus is on Africa and Asia.
The start up cost and the need to attract an external training provider also led to this role for Shannon Airport being declined.
“This analysis leads the team to conclude that it does not presently see a role for Shannon Airport that adds clear value to the international humanitarian relief effort,” the author said.
“It should be noted that there is little doubt about the commitment of Shannon Airport and its various stakeholders to developing a new role for the site. Unfortunately, geography, costs, and existing structures do not make Shannon Airport an ideal location for humanitarian functions.”