Irish Election are pleased to announce our collection of Irish 
Limerick County Council Estimate 10,000 Jobs Under Threat
Read more about: Clare, End of Shannon-Heathrow, Fianna Fail, Government, Irish Politics, Limerick East, Limerick West, Transport
Ongoing attempts to quantify the damage done by the Aer Lingus pullout suggest that 10,000 jobs may be at risk. Its primarily an issue of infrastructure and access to the region, which has become heavily populated with FDI and multinational companies thanks to Shannon Development. Fianna Fail is doing the usual trick of providing its own opposition as local Limerick TD Peter Power has been out calling on government to do something.
Of course we learned at the time of privatisation that the government can do sweet FA since the EU told them they cannot use a minority holding to force any maintaining of the slots. Cullen was told repeatedly that a “golden share” is simply a “big share”, as Dan noted earlier last year. Aer Lingus know it and are planning on digging in for the storm before beginning the flights from Belfast. What is probably surprising is how quickly public service provision from Shannon was lost after privatisation. Another black mark against government led privatisations. Equally Cullen’s other logic for the 25.1% share was to maintain influence and access to the board and board level decisions. That one is a load of cobblers too, it seems. Or else they are liars.
From breakingnews.ie:
“The loss of the Shannon-Heathrow service would result in County Limerick becoming a less competitive and attractive location for existing and potential investors and would have a detrimental impact on tourism in the region…”The achievements to date in providing a highly skilled workforce through the presence of the University of Limerick in County Limerick, which adds value to the strong multinational sector, will be greatly undermined by cutting off direct access to the main transport hub in Western Europe…
“According to Gerry Behan, Deputy County Manager, “The removal of direct access from the West of Ireland to an international hub such as Heathrow would seriously undermine the effectiveness of major infrastructure projects in Limerick such as the Southern Ring Road in Limerick City, the Shannon Tunnel and the N-7 Nenagh to Limerick high quality dual carriageway.”
More revelations — Aer Lingus say that they told Dempsey only last Friday — and in a chat at a reception, but something was apparently in the works for a while –
Irish Times: While airline sources said Government officials were made aware of the plan some time ago, confirmation of the agreement took place only last Friday when airline chairman John Sharman and chief executive Dermot Mannion briefed the Minister for Transport on the fringes of a press event to mark the introduction of a route to Washington.
While Mr Dempsey’s representative did not return calls yesterday, the Minister appears to have no appetite to challenge the airline’s decision. However, it will fall to him in the first instance to face the political backlash in the mid-west.