FF sees Shannon Airport board

Fianna Fáil has committed itself to establishing a regional board at Shannon Airport which will operate the airport and report to Aer Rianta.

The Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, said yesterday she did not believe in "hiving off" Shannon Airport from Aer Rianta "and leaving it to whosoever would put their eye upon it". An independent management structure is favoured by the Progressive Democrats and has been espoused by its Limerick East TD, Mr Des O'Malley.

Ms O'Rourke, who was speaking at the inauguration of Aer Arann's twice-daily Shannon- to-Dublin service, said funding for marketing and development purposes would become a problem if an independent structure was established.

However, she said there was a need for a much stronger local input into the airport. She would be proposing to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, when deciding on the party's manifesto today, that a local board be established, which would be "a sub-set of the main board". This would provide "a sharper focus" for Shannon.

It would provide the impetus for ideas for the airport and build its base. The new board would be "tight" and would have self-determination. It would be representative of local political, commercial and social interests. She believed a representative from the board should also serve on the main Aer Rianta board. It is understood Ms O'Rourke will make a similar announcement for Cork Airport.

She reaffirmed the party's commitment to the bilateral agreement, by which 50 per cent of transatlantic traffic must land at Shannon. This is despite a warning recently from the president of the US Tour Operators Association, Mr Bob Whitley, that Delta Airlines would pull out of Ireland at the end of the summer if it had to continue providing an equal service to Dublin and Shannon.

Ms O'Rourke said that, without that agreement, the downturn in the aviation industry in the period after September 11th would have put Shannon "in a far more difficult situation than it is in right now".

She said the agreement had been maintained for five years despite it having regularly come up for debate at the EU's Council of Transport Ministers.

"I would urge all the political parties, and particularly those who are coming into my position, that they hold fast to that ... It won't be held if there is not determination about it. There are plenty of other countries at various Council of Ministers' meetings that have special pet projects and they are allowed to hold on to them because they shout and talk."