This article is from page 8 of the 2012-01-31 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
OPENING up a pre-clearance facility for the US military at Shannon; bringing Aer Rianta International back home to Shannon and Shannon Development handing over their tourism remit to Fáilte Ireland. These are just three major issues that were addressed at the Radisson Hotel in Meelick on Friday morning last when business leaders in the mid-west region had a breakfast briefing with Transport Minister Leo Varakdar.
During a question and answer session Minister Varadkar revealed that there will be “seven test runs of US military pre-clearance” in the coming week and “if that works we will be signing off on military pre-clearance at Shannon”.
Local anti-war group Shannonwatch was quick to criticize this announcement with spokesperson Ed Horgan telling The Clare People “during his speech Minister Varadkar talked about capturing the entrepreneurial spirit of Shannon, but it would seem that every one in six people that passes through Shannon Airport these days is an armed US soldier. That is not the type of viability or entrepreneurship that Shannon requires at this time.”
On the future role of Shannon Development, Minister Varadkar said the department was “considering whether their tourism marketing remit should revert to Fáilte Ireland” but that there was no question of the agency losing the remit to run visitor attractions in the mid-west region.
“Shannon Airport’s asset base, including the substantial landbank adjacent to the airport offers significant scope for future growth and development,” the president of Shannon Chamber of Commerce, Damian Gleeson told Minister Varadkar.
“The Lynx cargo hub and the Humanitarian Aid Centre are examples of projects this landbank could accommodate. The Shannon area is synonymous with innovative initia- tives. Route development and marketing of the airport underpins its future and the airport underpins the future of the entire Shannon region.
“We need to take the best from the past to move to the future. The corporate capability that has fuelled this region over the decades is still present in the region; it needs to be re-energised and given the wherewithal to take the region and the airport in a new direction,” he added.
The former head of Aer Rianta International, Michael Hanrahan, said “ARI’s headquarters is now in Dublin and that is wrong – it has produced hundreds of millions for Dublin and the sooner it is based back down here the better.”