Future of Shannon stopover on agenda for US-Irish talks

The phasing out of the Shannon stopover will feature at talks in Washington between Irish and US officials this week.

Although the US Government is adamant that there should be a speedy end to the stopover, the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, is insisting that it be done on a phased basis.

His view is that it can only come about as part of a broader open-skies arrangement.

A spokesman for Mr Brennan said last night that the Minister would not support any US-EU deal that failed to guarantee the future of Shannon Aiport. "Clearly, however, Shannon cannot go on forever depending on the stopover."

The Minister has discussed the issue with interested groups from the Shannon area. Last week, he met a deputation led by the Minister of State for Education and Science, Ms Síle de Valera.

Mr Brennan is understood to have told deputations that Ireland could stand back and find that the stopover was gone overnight, or reopen negotiations with the US and look for a breathing space for the airport.

He has discussed the matter with the US Secretary for Transport, Mr Norman Mineta, and the EU Commissioner for Transport, Ms Loyola de Palacio.

Meanwhile, the Dublin South East TD and Fianna Fáil European election candidate, Mr Eoin Ryan, said yesterday that the completion of the EU-US open-skies policy must be a central aim of the Government and the EU.

"The bottom line is that currently Aer Lingus can only fly to specific destinations in America, because of the restricted nature of the existing US-Ireland bilateral aviation agreement," he added.

"If a wider open-skies agreement were to be put in place between the EU and the United States, there would be many practical benefits. It would mean that Aer Lingus and other Irish airlines would be able to fly into as many as 15 different destinations in the US."