Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

It was well known — perhaps it escaped Deputy O'Dowd's attention during the course of debates on the privatisation of Aer Lingus, the production of IPO literature and so on — that Aer Lingus intended to set up hubs in other parts of Ireland or in the UK. I am not sure how many people here knew, but it was public knowledge that at least five different centres were being considered, including Belfast, Birmingham and Glasgow. In the story that appeared on 13 June, it was stated that Belfast was a likely choice. It was not stated that all the slots would be removed from Shannon Airport——

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