County Clare, IRELAND, 10th August 07 - The Mayor of Clare has reacted angrily to the Government’s statement this evening regarding Aer Lingus’s axing of services from Shannon to Heathrow, describing it as “a choreographed slap in the face” to the people of the West of Ireland.
Cllr. Patricia McCarthy said that the Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey had shown gross disregard for the future development of the West of Ireland’s economy and a lack of understanding of the situation on the ground by describing the loss of direct services from Shannon Airport to London Heathrow as “not the bee-all and end-all”.
Minister Noel Dempsey also said this evening that the situation was serious but it was not as big a crisis as some people had been making out.
According to Mayor McCarthy, “Minister Dempsey and this Government obviously have no idea of the difficulties now faced by the West of Ireland in selling industry and tourism to international markets. We use the connectivity provided by the international hub at Heathrow to sell the Region as a location for industry. Jobs will potentially be lost and millions of euro in investment will be squandered all because this Government has failed to live up to promises it has made in the past regarding the protection of these airport slots at Heathrow.”
She continued, “Minister Dempsey’s comments follow today’s historic meeting of over 300 business, tourism and local government leaders in the West of Ireland. He is blatantly trying to fob off the very genuine efforts by and concerns of the people of the West of Ireland to promote balanced regional development, an ideal supposedly driven by his Government.”
“I welcome the fact that the Government has admitted that the mid-west has a serious situation. However, I am afraid that the Minister is seriously underestimating the damage that will be caused to the West of Ireland economy should Shannon Airport lose its direct flights to Heathrow. Neither he nor the Government are going to get off the hook on this issue and I will continue, along with other public representatives in the region, to fight for the retention of direct flights between Shannon and Heathrow”, concluded Mayor McCarthy.
-ENDS-
Note to Editor:
Mayor Patricia McCarthy is available for interview on 087-4187132. Alternatively please contact Mark Dunphy of Dunphy Public Relations on 086-8534900 or media@dunphypr.com
