This article is from page 2 of the 2005-11-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
INDUSTRY and opposition politicians have slammed the agreement which will see the Shannon stopover grounded from April 2008.
IBEC — which represents 500 busi- nesses, employing 50,000 people in the region — has branded the announcement that a deal has been cut to phase out the stopover as “a black day for the west.”
IBEC Mid-West Regional President, Mr Damien Clancy, added that the impact on industry, business and tourism would be devastating given that Government has not outlined measures to minimise the negative effect of this decision.
“The harsh reality is that, under Open Skies, US-Shannon flights could easily be reduced from 50 to 7 per week with an equivalent drop in US passengers of up- wards of 500,000 per annum as airlines seek to consolidate their Irish operations
for cost reasons,” he said.
Beginning next November, the number of flights serving Shannon will be re- duced to one in four on all scheduled routes. “This drastic reduction in serv- ices outlined by Minister Cullen will no doubt have a significant impact on invest- ment and jobs in Shannon and the greater West of Ireland region unless action is taken to plan for this change,” the IBEC President said.
Mike Halpenny of SIPTU, the union representing workers at the airport, says the deal is a disaster. “The big problem is that it’s a poor deal, not just for the air- port workers but also for workers in the industrial estate and the backward link- ages. And this has all been done without even the courtesy of an impact study.”
Joe Buckley of the Shannon Signal eroup said that it was “an appalling day for Shannon.” He added that, while the
Government had neglected to carry out any impact statement before the deal, in the US, a bill is moving through congress to examine fall-out for American indus- try in the Mid-West.
Fine Gael TD Pat Breen has criticised the one-in-four deal for Shannon over an 18-month-period as a drip-feed solution. He said, “This is a sellout of the West. It is a ridiculous sop which takes no ac- count of the threatened effects of an Open Skies agreement on the airport.”
But the plan has received a welcome from tourism interests and from the Lim- erick Chamber of Commerce, who said that “Open Skies could offer opportuni- ties and Shannon Airport’s business plan does make provision for its advent but it is now critical that they get their cost structure in order to attract carriers and compete on transatlantic business by of- fering lower landing charges.”