John Cregan (Limerick West, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important debate which relates to the restoration of connectivity between Shannon and Heathrow.

In August Aer Lingus dealt a devastating blow to the mid-west region. As a region, we were playing in the Premiership, but following the blow dealt by Aer Lingus, we are now in division one. That is hardly good enough for a region that has been built up over many years on the premise that there would be connectivity with Shannon Airport. It was an area in which people were prepared to invest very heavily but this has now been taken from us and I fear that not alone will we lose jobs in industry and tourism, we will also not be as attractive as other regions when it comes to attracting additional inward investment. I give credit to successive Governments which have supported Shannon Airport and the Shannon region and made it what it is, namely, a region of which we are all very proud. Everybody would agree with this.

The timing of the decision by Aer Lingus was despicable and appalling. We were all caught off guard. It was taken without consultation with the staff, in particular, and Aer Lingus's own board. It is very strange that a company could take such a decision unilaterally without consultation with its own board, which I find very difficult to understand.

I set out my position clearly a number of weeks ago, reiterated it last week and will probably do so again today. I do not need to be lectured by anybody inside or outside the House as to how I should speak or defend the people of Limerick West for whom I have spoken and worked since 1991. I will let them judge me when judgment day comes around for me.

Even though I am grateful for the Opposition's promptings, I am happy to support the Government based on what I have heard and been told at numerous meetings with the Taoiseach, the Minister and other senior Ministers. The Minister outlined clearly to all concerned the reason the Government cannot intervene. It has been given in a legal opinion by the Attorney General and I challenge any member of the Opposition to contradict it.

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