This article is from page 12 of the 2006-01-31 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
THE Department of Transport has come under fire for refusing to release the vast majority of records relating to Government talks with the US on the phased ending of the “Shannon stopover”.
Fine Gael TD, Pat Breen, said yesterday that refusal to release the records raised suspicions about the stance of the Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, in his negotiations to end Shannon’s gateway status.
“This is a very important issue that affects the whole of the west of Ireland and the Government should be open and accountable in relation to the decisions that it takes that affect people of this region.”
In response to a Freedom of Information request from The Clare People , the Dept of Transport refused to release 98 of the 129 records held by the Department on the issue.
The Department refused to release 89 of the records through Section 20 and 21 of the Act, as the records were part of the deliberate process and releasing the records could also be contrary to the public interest. The Department also refused to release the records as they would disclose positions taken for the purposes of any negotiations carried out on behalf of the Government.
The Government also refused to release nine records under Section 19 and Section 27 of the Act, the latter due to commercial sensitivity.
The 31 records released are mainly documents already in the public domain and shed no light on the negotiations that went on between the Irish and US sides.
The phased ending of the “stop-over” is due to commence in November of this year, when a transitional phase of a ratio of Dublin/Shannon flights will go from one for one to three for one in favour of Dublin. From November, Irish airlines will have access to three additional US destinations, while cargo services from Shannon will not be subject to any “stop-over” requirements from next November.
The decision to end the “stop-over” has already met with strong opposition in the region with SIGNAL, the Shannon workers lobby leading the chorus of disapproval.
Since striking the deal, Minister Cullen has consistently refused to carry out an economic impact statement into the ending of the stop-over. Already, an independent study has forecast that Shannon’s transatlantic traffic will drop from 700,000 to 400,000 under an “open skies” regime.