Madam, - When I read Kevin Myers' Irishman's Diary of February 11th on the future of Shannon Airport the following quotation from Confucius came to mind: "Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon and star".
Mr Myers needs to broaden his horizons and realise there is life outside the Pale. We have a vibrant, well-educated generation who now work and live in the west of Ireland. If Mr Myers extended his knowledge base he could learn all about regional development.
He would learn that transport brings people and economies together, making it possible to create new hubs of development. Thankfully, visionaries have seen the potential and forged ahead to promote and support the west.
Shannon Airport is central to the economic corridor stretching from Limerick to Galway. Under the National Spatial Strategy, it is a "gateway", namely the gateway to the west of Ireland. This gateway, and the associated western corridor, is the only counter-balance to the urban sprawl in the east and Dublin, yet Mr Myers is suggesting that the main artery of the region - Shannon Airport - be cut?
Investment was not parachuted into the west, but was attracted to the region by the diversity of skills available locally, thanks to the success of our third-level institutions.
It was also drawn to the international airport, making it possible to import materials and export produce near-site. Companies such as Dell, Wyeth, Baxter, Beckman Coulter, Boston Scientific, and GE chose the west of Ireland.
Out of 120 firms surveyed in the mid-west and Galway, 50 per cent use Shannon for passenger services and 40 per cent use it for air freight. It is estimated that Shannon Airport has a direct impact on 18,000 jobs and an indirect impact on a further 11,000 jobs. Thus, 29,000 workers shudder at Mr Myers' lack of vision.
Of course, in espousing the virtues of his hero, Mr Willie Walsh, Mr Myers quotes his reasons as to why Aer Lingus nearly came a cropper in 2001; both he and Mr Walsh have a dose of selective amnesia when failing to mention that this was the year of the foot-and-mouth crisis, when the tourism industry throughout the country nearly came a cropper.
The laws of commerce do also apply here in the west of Ireland and the commercial realities are confirmed in a recent Tourism Ireland report. For example, US holidaymakers who enter this country through Shannon are more likely to come again; they engage in more activities, stay longer than those who arrive through Dublin, go to more regions of the country, visit more places of cultural or historical interest and hire more cars (73 per cent, against 30 per cent via Dublin).
Thus, Mr Myers, the entire economy of the island of Ireland is the beneficiary of our sacred cow - Shannon Airport.
I challenge Mr Myers, to parachute from his ivory tower to Shannon Airport to meet me so I can introduce him to the real story of Shannon and the true success story of the west of Ireland.
I await his visit. - Yours, etc.,
PAT BREEN, TD, Dáil Éireann, Dublin 2.