ARTHUR TEELING,
Madam, - I am alarmed at the outrageous suggestion from the Shannon lobby to compel all charter flights into and out of Ireland to use Shannon airport only.
We have had 40 years of compelling customers to use Shannon for transatlantic flights. This has done untold damage to Ireland and led to a fat, subsidised and non-productive ethos in the Shannon area.
One recent letter offered "excess capacity" at Shannon as a reason for the daft suggestion to force Irish and foreign travellers over to Shannon. I would submit that the provision of excess capacity at Shannon is a scandal and should be probed. The political system facilitated over-investment for appeasement purposes at a time when health and education could have done with these misdirected resources. We should have a tribunal of inquiry into the waste of taxpayers' money at Shannon airport, Kilrush marina and on the Jeannie Johnson, to name but a few. - Yours, etc.,
ARTHUR TEELING, New Ross, Co Wexford.