Tony Mulcahy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome here today my youngest brother, Joe, who also lives in Shannon, my PA, Mr. Errol Mulqueen and Bríd. I know I am out of order on that one.

I do not need too many notes to speak here today. I am stunned when I listen to some of the Senators opposite set about a mechanism to undo the work that the Government is trying to do on behalf of Shannon. Senator MacSharry stated they would complain to the Commissioner. Other Senators spoke about timing. This is the problem. It is eight years on and we made a decision. We are moving on. That is the problem with what happened with the previous Government.

The Fianna Fáil members opposite are at odds with their members in Clare. In 2007, we adopted a motion unanimously. That was after Deputy Dooley's famous incident in regard to the Heathrow slots in Aer Lingus. The Deputy is not here to defend himself but he will not be allowed forget that one either. In 2007, we adopted a unanimous motion to separate the airports. Our position in Clare - I can speak for my Fianna Fáil colleagues on Clare County Council and all of the others - is still clear. We emphatically support the separation of the airport.

When people talk about the airport, they compare it to Knock. Shannon Airport is not Knock. On the edge of Shannon Airport, there are 2,000 acres of land, quite a good deal of which is developed and some of which is in disrepair. There are 10,000 persons working in those estates. At one time there were over 26,000 workers. Buses used come up from Golden in Tipperary, from Listowel and from Abbeyfeal to work in Shannon. We are developing a cluster and we will grow that cluster out from there. That is exactly what we are about. It is a business decision. It is nothing else.

I am proud to stand here today, having lived in Shannon for 37 years, reared my family there, run a business and worked for the airport for five years. I thank the Ministers, Deputies Varadkar, Richard Bruton and Noonan, the Ministers of State, Deputies Kelly and Jan O'Sullivan, and above all, the transition team led by Ms Rose Hynes, who has done an incredible job on the ground to bring this about.

It is condescending and an affront to state that this decision will be taken before the EU Commission. The Fianna Fáil members in Clare need to be made well aware of what the Oireachtas Members are doing here in Dublin. They need to know and I will certainly inform them. That type of carry-on is what has got this country to where it is.

I support this decision. We will set about bringing Shannon back to where it was in the glory days. It is not all about the airport. There are 2,000 persons working in the aviation industry in Shannon as we speak, in overhaul maintenance service and aircraft leasing. We can grow that, and we will do so with the support of the Government. No doubt we are doing right. On 1 January 2013, Shannon will have the dead hand of the Dublin Airport Authority taken off it. We will survive. We ourselves will make it grow.