Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

I tabled this question last Wednesday and Thursday and I have finally succeeded in having it taken. I tabled it following the failure of the Minister for Transport to listen to the reasoned voices coming from the mid-west and the west urging the need for an economic impact study and an adequate lead-in period before altering the 50-50 share of transatlantic air services guaranteed for Shannon and Dublin since 1993. I understand the Minister for Transport has already gone to the US. He met some of the workers in Shannon this morning and I do not know at this stage what he told them. I am pleased a Minister of State from the mid-west region is present tonight and I hope he will be able to answer some of my questions.

It is staggering that the Minister for Transport has refused to carry out an impact study, despite a request from a group representing the chambers of commerce of Ennis, Shannon and Limerick, IBEC west and mid-west, SIPTU, IMPACT, the Irish Hotels Federation and tourism and leisure businesses in the region. The mid-west regional authority has also been ignored. I do not know whether this is pure arrogance or a complete lack of concern for the western half of the country, but all these requests have fallen on deaf ears. The Government has seen fit to pay for studies and consultancies on a myriad of subjects — the Minister of State, Deputy Callely, has graced the newspapers for which the money was found — yet this vital strategic element that has been a core factor in the economic success of the region is to go with no evaluation of the possible effect of this.

The Minister appears set on making this momentous change in the regulation of air traffic without any real idea of what will happen. I acknowledge that if things go well, the opportunities could outweigh the losses. However, if things do not go well for Shannon and if all the airlines decide to concentrate their flights in the capital city, which has been a pattern in other European countries where it was allowed, the result could set back drastically the economic development of the mid-west and the west and skew the balance of population and economic activity even more to the eastern seaboard than is the case already. We simply do not know what will happen because the Government has not bothered to find out. This is highly amateur and dangerous.

The Chambers of Commerce of Ireland took the matter seriously. The report carried out by Frederick Sorensen and Alan Dukes stated that Shannon would run into difficulties unless active and forceful supporting activities are undertaken. The US Congress is taking the matter seriously. It has authorised the Secretary of State to prepare a report within 180 days on the effects of ending the dual gateway policy on US businesses operating in western Ireland, Irish businesses operating in and around Shannon Airport and United States carriers serving Ireland. There is genuine fear that a healthy economic framework with hundreds of companies and thousands of jobs could collapse if the vital regular freight and passenger services are withdrawn by airline companies whose only brief is to make money, not to maintain regional economic development. That is the Government's responsibility.

The Minister's course of action is not being forced on him either by the US or the EU. The US is prepared to assess the effects of change. The EU has indicated that it would be willing to facilitate a lead-in time. However, I understand from my sources that the Government has not yet requested such a lead-in time. Will the Minister of State's response answer that question?

A lead-in period of five years would allow for the effects of change to be monitored. It would allow for infrastructural improvements and marketing supports to be put in place. Surely in the week when the same Minister for Transport announced a plethora of transport improvements for Dublin costing billions of euro, including a metro to Dublin Airport, he can do this much for Shannon. He might also do more than a study into the rail link to Shannon.

I want to ask about our local Fianna Fáil and Progressive Democrats representatives, one of whom is in the House. Deputy Peter Power has already done a U-turn. The Minister for Defence, Deputy O'Dea, the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Killeen, and the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, Deputy de Valera, have buried their heads in the sand and cast aside the passion they adopted when it threatened Shannon in the past. The ideology of the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Tim O'Malley, and his party seems to have won. The ideology of the PDs has obviously carried the day in this regard. The survival of the fittest philosophy is not concerned with regional balance; it is just concerned with allowing the market to make money where it can.

The Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, has not yet commenced his talks and it is not too late to ensure that decisions are made with the benefit of knowledge and care. I urge the Government to listen and respond to the broad voice of concern on both sides of the Atlantic. Very little information is being made available. I do not know what was said this morning in Shannon Airport. Very little information is coming to vital interests in the mid-west on the intentions of the Minister, Deputy Cullen, in regard to his trip to the US this week. I hope there will be some enlightenment this evening.

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