This article is from page 8 of the 2006-10-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
MANAGEMENT at Shannon Airport have been urged to broker a deal directly with Ryanair to protect local jobs, should the low fares airline become the majority shareholder in Aer Lingus.
Fine Gael General Election Candidate, Councillor Madeleine TaylorQuinn told The Clare People that it was critical that Shannon Airport was on high alert on all matters relating to the transaction.
“I would urge management at Shannon to negotiate immediately with Ryanair in order to establish Shannon as Ryanair’s European Transatlantic hub,” she said.
“Because of the good record that exists between Shannon and Ryanair, the management at Shannon will be in a unique position to broker a special deal with Ryanair especially relating to Transatlantic traffic.”
She described as “farcical” attempts made by the Government to stop the sale of Aer Lingus to Ryanair.
“Questions have to be asked would they be happy with an Arab or US investor?”
But the former TD she feared the introduction of a rationalisation programme by Ryanair that could result in the loss of Air Lingus jobs in Shannon.
Fine Gael TD Pat Breen expressed some support for the takeover.
“I was against this privatisation move because I could see the national airline being taken over by a foreign airline interested in the valuable Heathrow slots for example.
Now that the privatisation has taken place, we have to run with it and I believe the Ryanair bid would not necessarily be a bad outcome on the Aer Lingus ownership issue.”
“I find it incredible that Fianna Fáil politicians including Transport Minister Martin Cullen who were gung ho about selling off the airline can now criticise the moves Ryanair are making on Aer Lingus. The fact is that once you sell off the family silver, it can end up anywhere, as we saw with eircom.
“That said, that an airline with strong Irish connections and a proven track record is attempting to take over Aer Lingus may be good for the company and good for Shannon.
“Every time Aer Lingus has a seat sale, Shannon loses out on the promotions to the benefit of Cork and Dublin. Ryanair has not neglected Shannon.”
Speaking in Shannon, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was not happy to see the Ryanair takeover.
“I stand for competition and not monopolies. I have always been against monopolies and that is why I helped Ryanair so much. Obviously to be consistent I don’t want to see a monopoly now,” he said.