Dáil debates

Tuesday, 24 April 2007

Air Transport Agreement: Motion

 

10:00 pm

Photo of Jan O'SullivanJan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

I refer to the two areas in which the Minister gave commitments which he has not yet fulfilled. There was meant to be a reasonable transitional period during which Shannon could adjust to the new regime. The time period allotted is only one year. The Minister signed the agreement in March and the one in three provision will only last for one year, from March 2007 to March 2008. We will then be on our own. It does not appear that the Minister has any concern for the needs of the region. He has made no attempt to publish his economic and tourism development plan. I tabled a parliamentary question on it on 3 April and the Minister stated that following the endorsement of the EU-US air transport agreement by the Council of Transport Ministers on 22 March, he expected to be in a position shortly to finalise the tourism and economic development plan for Shannon. It is now one month later and the Minister is still waffling on. He said he set up this committee and that the Mid-West Regional Authority is leading a group that has made recommendations to him which he will take into account. That is very generous of him, but the original expectation in the mid-west was that the plan would be published with a good lead-in time so that we would have the opportunity to set up the marketing and economic protection we need for jobs.

The concern in the mid-west is that the region will lose jobs. We will lose jobs unless the Minister takes this issue seriously. I note the Minister of State, Deputy Killeen, and the former Minister, Deputy de Valera, are in the House. It is no good to them either if the Minister does not take seriously the needs of the region and that we are genuinely concerned for the industries in the Shannon free zone, for example, and in my constituency which depend on access through Shannon Airport for their executives, the people with whom they do business and for their goods and services. There is no sense that the Minister is taking that seriously. He has given us no date for the publication——

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