Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

The issue here arises from the statement by the Minister for Transport that he considers that four London Heathrow slot pairs for services to and from Shannon would be critical to ensuring connectivity to these airports because this is the minimum necessary to ensure a spread of flights throughout the day. The date of this statement is October 2006.

In April 2007, just before the general election, the Minister for Transport, again in reply to a question from Deputy Finian McGrath, that wonderful Independent Deputy, gave the same response as in October 2006. Government policy, clearly enunciated right up to the general election, was very clear. At the heart of the transport policy and at the heart of Shannon Airport was an absolute commitment to retain connectivity between London Heathrow and Shannon. The commitment was absolutely clear and unambiguous until the decision was made by Aer Lingus. The Government does not act as it should in exercising its rights.

The Minister said the first he heard about this was when the chairman of Aer Lingus spoke to him. I spoke to Aer Lingus and I was told this matter was discussed by the board of Aer Lingus before the decision was made public. The Minister has the right to appoint three representatives to the board of Aer Lingus. So far he has appointed only one representative. There were two vacant seats at that meeting when the Aer Lingus proposal was being discussed. Those were the seats the Minister for Transport could and should have filled so the arguments being made by his backbenchers and by us could have been articulated at that board meeting. Clearly two of the three representatives were absent because the Minister had not bothered to appoint them to that role.

Our party is very clear on the issue. Both former spokespersons on transport, Deputy Olivia Mitchell and Deputy Denis Naughten, made our position clear on the privatisation debate. Deputy Denis Naughten, in particular, got a commitment from the Minister, Deputy Brennan, that the equivalent of a White Paper would be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas before the privatisation Bill would go through. Fine Gael, as Deputy Naughten enunciated at that time, said it would not support the Bill unless there was a clear and absolute commitment to the argument specifically and particularly in regard to the slots and connectivity with Heathrow being laid before the Houses. The Minister, Deputy Brennan, signed on but the next Minister, Deputy Cullen, signed off. Sitting around the Cabinet table when they signed off on that White Paper on the future of Shannon Airport was the Minister for Defence, Deputy O'Dea. The Minister, Deputy O'Dea, was asleep at the Cabinet table and he allowed the arguments to be put forward.

The reality is that we have a Government that has abandoned 350,000 passengers annually between Dublin and Heathrow. The Minister made much in his speech about the fact that one can still get to London — of course, one can. Of the 350,000 who travel annually through Heathrow, approximately one third go there for onward connectivity which will not be provided from 1 January because there will be no flights to and from Shannon Airport through Heathrow. That is a fact and it is incontrovertible. I am surprised the Minister did not allude more to what we have read in the newspapers about the efforts he is supposed to have made in regard to attracting British Midlands or whoever he can into the area to replace the flights that are being lost. The truth of the matter is that the Shannon area, Limerick, Clare, north Tipperary, Kerry and so on are significantly and adversely affected by this decision. There is no articulation of the view of that community or of his backbenchers in what he said today. He has not insisted, as he has the right to and as the Minister led us to believe he would in his statement, on defending the sale or the transfer of those slots.

The Department of Transport was very helpful to me when I asked it about this issue. The difference between what was contained in the newspaper articles and the truth is that if the slots were sold, leased or transferred by Aer Lingus to whatever other company, the Minister would intervene and call the EGM and direct the company to act in a certain way. Because Aer Lingus is moving the slots, regardless of where they are going, he has refused to intervene. Effectively, there was no guarantee in the words of the Minister. There is no guarantee from this Government that it will——

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