Mayors from west voice anger over Shannon

Mayors representing almost one million people in the west last night called on the Government to use its 25 per cent share of Aer Lingus to reverse the company decision to end the Shannon-Heathrow route.

In a show of strength against the Aer Lingus decision to transfer the Heathrow routes from Shannon to Belfast, they gathered in Shannon last night to express their anger.

Addressing mayors and county managers from Sligo, Mayo, Galway, Limerick, Tipperary and Kerry, the mayor of Clare, Cllr Patricia McCarthy, said: "We're told that the Government does not want to undermine the Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion in a vote at an extraordinary general meeting. But the Government has a choice in the vote, either the west of Ireland or one person."

The combined population of the cities and counties represented by the mayors and managers was 998,865, according to last year's census, the meeting was told. Mayor of Limerick Cllr Kevin Sheahan, said he would have no hesitation in supporting civil disobedience to force the Government to intervene.

In response, Cllr McCarthy said: "People are intensely angry over what is going on, but it is a case of managing that anger. Our case is very strong and we don't want to do anything at this time that may damage it, but it is something that we may have to come back to."

She added: "The only guarantee that Aer Lingus's slots can be retained in Ireland in the future is if we have a national airline, and people are now asking the question should the Government buy back the shares it sold."

Cllr Sheahan said jobs in multinational companies in the west would be lost in the next number of weeks if the current uncertainty is not removed.

Clare County Council director Ger Dollard said companies in the region were carrying out "what if" scenarios in case the Heathrow slots were lost. "The impact will not be immediate, but it will be felt in a short period with a reduction in staff and elements of companies' operations moving elsewhere," he added.

Chairman of the Border, Midland and Western Regional Assembly Cllr James Deegan said the situation was comparable to the demise of the sugar beet industry with the Government hiding behind the excuse it cannot interfere in commercial decisions.

Clare county manager Alec Fleming said: "At the outset of the Western Rail campaign, I didn't think that it had a hope in succeeding, but it did succeed. On what we are trying to achieve here, I have never seen such political unanimity and, with that level of unity, I can't see it not succeeding."

Mr Fleming noted €2 billion was being spent in the region on transport infrastructure that will double the catchment area of Shannon airport. "I believe that the Aer Lingus decision is totally flawed from purely a commercial point of view," he said.

Mayor of Kerry Cllr Michael Healy-Rae said the Government's behaviour and lack of action was disgraceful with "senior Government ministers talking out of both sides of their mouth on the issue".

The assembled mayors agreed that they would seeking a meeting with the high-level Government group charged with examining the Shannon-Heathrow issue.