This article is from page 12 of the 2008-06-03 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
THE decision by Aer Lingus to with- draw its Shannon/Heathrow service last summer continues to cause grave concern to businesses in the mid- west.
That’s according to the new presi- dent of the Shannon Chamber of GreysbeRCcMe EVIE ST DUKChMER, Zeemote
ployed at Avocent.
Avocent, which designs and manu- factures PC components, outsources work to Eastern Europe and its head- quarters is located in Alabama in the US. The company is linked to sever- al other countries including France, Hungary, Malysia and Singapore.
“Shannon Airport and the whole connectivity issues 1s very important
for Avocent. We are very dependent on customers coming in to us through Heathrow and are very dependent on connectivity to the US. It is critical for a company like us and we are only a medium-sized company,” said Mr Barrett.
He said that the united effort by a myriad of groups in the mid-west when it emerged that Aer Lingus was
to withdraw its Shannon/Heathrow service last August was encouraging. However Government didn’t listen. “Locally, everybody pulled togeth- er very well. Unfortunately we didn’t seem to have a desire on the part of the Government to act,” said Mr Bar- rett, who is a qualified accountant. “The one thing I learned from the Heathrow issue is that any one in-
dividual organisation working by itself 1s a lone voice. It is important for groups to work together, like the Connectivity Alliance, Shannon De- velopment and Clare County Council. They can come together and speak with a unified voice. That’s when we get far more attention. There is a significant worry about the pullout of Aer Lingus,” Mr Barrett said.