Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)

The present business model as operated by the Dublin Airport Authority is sucking the life out of Shannon Airport. We have witnessed a sharp decline in passenger numbers, airline carriers and destinations available through the airport. Ryanair, which once accounted for 1.9 million passengers and offered 53 routes, now bases just a single aircraft in Shannon Airport. Aer Lingus has withdrawn all its transatlantic flights for January, February and March of next year. The empty car-park and lack of activity at Shannon Airport highlights the low political priority given to the airport by successive Fianna Fáil Governments. There is a sense of utter hopelessness among business people, tourism interests, job creators, airport workers and the general population in County Clare. In response to this crisis the sole initiative of the Shannon Airport Authority in conjunction with the DAA has been to increase its airport charges. To add insult to injury, the only action offered by Government was to impose a €10 travel tax on passengers.

What Shannon Airport offers to the mid west and the western seaboard from an economic point of view in terms of jobs, connectivity for companies and a gateway to the west of Ireland is in real danger of being totally eroded unless a new model of governance is created. That the DAA continues to call the shots on Shannon Airport is no longer sustainable. We need a new beginning, a fresh start with a new business model. Any new structures will need to have adequate resources and strong political and financial support from Government.

The initial major challenge for any new airport authority is to put in place a five-year plan with realistic growth expectations. It also needs to engage with all current carriers who utilise the airport, including Ryanair. Any European airport would welcome such an airline yet Ryanair claims that it has been hindered repeatedly in its development at Shannon Airport because of Government-DAA policy. The challenge for the present Government and any new administration will be to respond to the needs of any such new authority and to reasonable requirements from carriers which want to do business in Shannon.

For an island nation it is a fallacy to tax people who want to travel here. This fallacy should be comfortably exchanged for increased employment and the knock-on revenue and taxes that could be generated from such passengers. The dead hand of the DAA must be removed from Shannon Airport before it is too late.

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