Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 137: To ask the Minister for Transport the position regarding the establishment of a public service obligation on the Shannon-Heathrow route; the contacts his Department has had with UK or EU officials in this regard; his views on the fact that no contact was made by any relevant stakeholder with British Airways about a BA Heathrow/Shannon link; the amount of the Economic and Tourism Plan for Shannon Airport catchment area funding that will be allocated for route support and to address the challenges of the Open Skies agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3394/08]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

My Department had discussions recently with the EU Commission about air connectivity from the West of Ireland and in particular about the possible imposition of a Public Service Obligation (PSO) on the Shannon-Heathrow route.

The Commission's position, as clarified as a result of those discussions, is that the relevant Regulation is an exception to the general rule of free provision of air services and that any such exception should be considered as restrictively as possible and should only be applied as far as necessary. In order to be eligible for a PSO, a route must not only be vital for the economic development of the region concerned but the existing services must be inadequate. In assessing whether services are adequate, account has to be taken of all existing air transport services, direct and indirect.

In relation to Shannon to London, the Commission has noted that there are already regular direct air services by Ryanair between Shannon and London airports, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton. Allowing for these connections, along with the Cityjet service to Paris, the Commission has indicated that it would be difficult to justify a PSO on the Shannon to London route. In any case, I recently raised the matter of a Shannon — London PSO link with Mr. Jim Fitzpatrick, M.P., UK Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for Transport. In subsequent contact by my Department with the UK Department for Transport on the subject it was confirmed that the UK would not favour a PSO link to London from another member state.

I think it is important to now focus on the commercial services from Shannon and I do not propose to comment on approaches to particular airlines, which are the direct responsibility of the airport authority. Cityjet's decision to launch the new Shannon-Paris route is a very positive development in this regard. This new route and the other services from Shannon indicate that Shannon can attract a range of commercial air services to support the business and tourism sectors.

An important element of the Economic and Tourism Development for the Shannon Airport Catchment area is a new tourism-marketing initiative for the area. This initiative amounts to an anticipated €15 to €20 million over the next few years and will be implemented by Tourism Ireland in close consultation with key tourism industry interests in the area, Shannon Development and the Fáilte Ireland Regions.

Finally, the question of allocating public funding directly to airlines for route support is severely constrained by EU State Aid Rules and I have no proposals to develop such a scheme at present.