Reaction:The Green Party yesterday said that the Government should try to persuade Aer Lingus to reverse its decision to drop the Shannon-Heathrow route.
However, the party's spokesman, Senator Dan Boyle, said that the Government's ability to influence the airline had "all but disappeared" since it was privatised.
"It is desirable that the Heathrow link be maintained in Shannon, but the best the Government can do and possibly should do was to seek to persuade the company to maintain the link," Mr Boyle said.
He said that Ryanair's plan to hold an emergency general meeting could set a bad precedent by strangling Aer Lingus's decision-making ability.
"This O'Leary proposal should be considered in the context of his own and Ryanair's commercial interests," he said.
Mr Boyle said that the Greens in Government would seek to emphasise the need for a national aviation policy and to develop airports outside Dublin.
Clare County Council's sole Green Party councillor, Brian Meaney, said last night that he was considering his future with the party arising from the Shannon-Heathrow controversy.
"If the Green Party is complicit in a Government decision that undermines the economic stability of the west, I will be unable to remain a member of the Green Party," he said.
Green Party leader and Minister for the Environment John Gormley is due in Ennis tomorrow following a request from Cllr Meaney to meet him and business and tourism interests to outline the impact of the Aer Lingus decision.
"We will be outlining to Minister Gormley the scale of the impact the Aer Lingus Heathrow decision will have on the west of Ireland," Mr Meaney said. "Outside of the west of Ireland there is a complete underestimation of the impact the removal of the Heathrow link will have. I have been a loyal, hard-working founding member of the Green Party here in Clare. I have stood for the Greens at every election in Clare since 1997.
"I have no difficulty in supporting the Green Party in Government implementing hard but necessary decisions. I cannot support a non-interventionist policy by a Government of decisions that tear the heart out of services that promote employment and act as a counter-measure to runaway development in the east."
Mr Meaney added: "This decision, if implemented without any mitigating measures, will make an economic basket case of the west of Ireland."