Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)

I thank the Acting Chairman for allowing me to raise this vital report for the mid-west. I congratulate Deputy Gallagher on his appointment as Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children. I am extremely disappointed the Minister for Transport and the Marine, Deputy Dempsey, is not here and hope it is not a sign that he will continue in the same vein as his predecessor, Deputy Cullen, in terms of his attitude to the mid-west. In particular, we have a €53 million mid-west tourism and economic development plan to deal with the impact of the open skies agreement for Shannon Airport and the region. When will the plan be implemented, how much will be spent and who will administer the fund?

I welcome the fact the programme for Government refers to a marketing plan being put in place. The reference is somewhat vague, but nonetheless I welcome it and trust that part of that marketing plan will be the full implementation of the €53 million tourism and economic development plan.

Open skies is effectively now in place for Shannon. A transitional period was supposed to operate from October 2006 to April 2008 but flights can be stacked and averaged over the period, three for one. This agreement was only negotiated and concluded by the former Minister, Deputy Cullen, on 3 March 2007 but the airlines have been allowed to go back to October 2006 to stack flights. We now have airlines effectively putting open skies fully in place for Shannon Airport, which will have grave implications. Three airlines are about to pull out from Shannon Airport. American Airlines, which flies year round to Chicago, will be gone from October 2007. Air Canada, which flies year round to Toronto, will cease operations on 10 August 2007. Delta, which flies to Atlanta in the winter months, will be gone from this winter. The implications of that are serious. There are, for example, six new hotels in Limerick, one of which is down 2,000 bed nights for 2008 because of uncertainty around future flights. Will the Minister of State confirm that CIE International Tours is redirecting all of its US business to Dublin because of that same uncertainty? That will have disastrous consequences for the region in 2008 and 2009.

One of the reasons the former Minister, Deputy Cullen, accepted the agreement was that an assurance was given by Aer Lingus, through its CEO Mr. Dermot Mannion, that 400,000 passengers would be retained, year round, at Shannon. Has the Minister received any written confirmation from Mr. Mannion to this effect? This is critical in terms of retaining year round flights for this region.

An IBEC report was published at the end of 2005 which showed that US multinational companies in the mid-west region are fearful about a reduction in transatlantic flights. A survey carried out among 123 companies, which between them employed 25,000 people and had an annual turnover of €6.12 billion, found that 70% believed the level of connectivity between Shannon Airport and the US was vital to their competitiveness. Furthermore, if there was a reduction of 100,000 tourists coming into the mid-west region and 200,000 transatlantic passengers, that would result in a 30% reduction in overseas revenue, amounting to €75 million. Over one fifth of the respondents said they would consider moving out of the region if US flights from Shannon were discontinued.

The Government has neglected the mid-west region to date. Successive Ministers have ignored it and again I express my disappointment at the absence of the new Minister for Transport and the Marine, Deputy Dempsey. I urge the Minister to implement this plan in full. I want to know when it will be implemented, how much will be spent and who will implement it.

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