DAA concurs with Siptu referral offer

The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) has agreed to a Siptu request to refer the talks on restructuring at Shannon to the National Implementation body.

The move comes after a day of talks between the DAA and Siptu at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC).

Siptu has called for the agreement with the US to end the Shannon stop-over to be put on hold pending the carrying out of an economic impact study.

Michael Halpenny, Siptu's National Industrial Secretary, said: "With a deal between the EU and the US not now expected until next Spring at the earliest, there is now space for the Government to carry out the impact study."

Claiming that 10,000 jobs are connected to the 'Shannon project', Mr Halpenny said that it is incomprehensible that Government could have approached the ending of the stop-over in such a cavalier manner given the importance of Shannon to the economy of the west of Ireland.

Mr Halpenny described the deal struck by the Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen last Friday as a "bad deal" for Shannon.

In the deal, the stop-over is to be phased out over the next three years, commencing next November.

The President of the Shannon Aviation branch, Pat Fitzgerald said that there is a mood of despondency around the airport.

He said: "The people here feel that they have abandoned.

"I can't understand how any Government can take away a piece of infrastructure that is so fundamentally important to maintaining the current levels of job levels in the region."

A spokesman for the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) - which has responsibility for Shannon - confirmed yesterday that there has been a "significant response" to the voluntary redundancy programme currently on offer.