An assembly composed of elected councillors from around the State has called on the Taoiseach to immediately prepare a Government aviation policy in the wake of the decision by Aer Lingus to stop its flights from Shannon to Heathrow.
The 41 elected representatives were meeting as members of the Southern and Eastern Regional Assembly in Co Clare today.
In a statement, the assembly said an Aer Lingus workers' representative had told the meeting that the airline's action in dropping the Heathrow routes was "illegal and at variance with Government policy".
Conal Kavanagh
Wicklow councillor Conal Kavanagh, chair of the assembly said: "The assembly is demanding the reversal of a decision that has been announced without consultation either at board level, or as a matter of courtesy, with the Minister for Transport.
"This decision, if allowed to remain unchanged, will have serious and lasting consequences for the mid-west and the west of Ireland and will cause serious damage to the commercial, industrial and tourism industries of the wider region resulting in severe job losses," Mr Kavanagh said.
He said the legal position and ownership of the slots at Heathrow must be immediately established.
Representatives of the newly established lobby group the Atlantic Connectivity Alliance, also attended today's meeting.
The Labour Party, meanwhile, said events of the past few weeks had proved "beyond doubt" that the Government's decision to privatise Aer Lingus was "a disastrous move that now threatens to undermine the entire future of the company".
Transport spokeswoman Roisin Shortall said that not only had the Government rushed unnecessarily into privatisation, it also appears that it had "never devised any strategy for dealing with post-privatisation scenarios that everyone knew were likely to arise".
"These include a management decision to close routes which are of strategic national importance to this country and the acquisition of a major shareholding in the company by a hostile competitor [Ryanair].
Ms Shortall said she was "seriously concerned" that while the focus of attention has been on the Shannon controversy, Ryanair had been "gobbling up more and more of Aer Lingus shares and makes no secret of its continuing objective of securing control of the company".
The airline bought a further 4 per cent of Aer Lingus shares earlier this week, bringing its total stake to just under 30 per cent and making it the single biggest shareholder in the rival carrier.
Roisin Shortall, Labour Party
"While the European Commission blocked the Ryanair bid at the end of June, the Competition Commissioner, Neelie Kroes made it clear at the time that it would not rule out a merger between Aer Lingus and Ryanair in the future if certain conditions could be met," Ms Shortall said.
"Neither can we assume that the Commission's decision will be automatically upheld when Ryanair's appeal is heard by the European Court of First Instance.
"The government has done nothing to try to block Ryanair from acquiring more and more of the Aer Lingus shareholding. Irish competition law has not, for instance, been invoked at all. If Ryanair were to succeed it would result in a situation where there was less choice and less competition for Irish travellers."
Ryanair dismissed Ms Shortall's comments as "rambling and contradictory".
A Ryanair spokesman said: "If Deputy Shortall or the Labour Party are genuinely concerned to save the Shannon-Heathrow route, why don't they purchase one or two shares in Aer Lingus (cost less than €5) and vote at the upcoming EGM in favour of the Ryanair motion to save the Shannon-Heathrow route?"