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Shannon: lots of smoke, how much fire?
Read more about: Connaught-Ulster, End of Shannon-Heathrow, Fianna Fail, Missing Politicians, Munster, Northern Ireland, Transport, Travel & Tourism
After drifting a little bit the SNN-LHR controversy and the related issue of the Aer Lingus strike are heating up again this evening. The latest non-Bertie non-Dempsey spokesperson for the government is Mary Hanafin — perhaps she was the only one around given the Leaving Cert results. And the employee trust has spoken up. This after the closed door FF meeting last night. Nothing definitive from any of this, so a brief roundup below [UPDATED].
Sarah is sceptical, suspecting that the FF meeting was a ready-up. It could be, but the fact that it was closed-door suggests that more than just a PR stunt was going on. Today the Employee Share Ownership Trust confirmed that they want an Aer Lingus EGM, although their request seems to hinge on whether “disposal” of the Heathrow slots includes their movement out of the country. While there are signs that Aer Lingus management and pilots union are inching towards a suspension of the strike next week, the government continues to sound tough on the SNN-LHR decision –
The Government has said it is “inappropriate” for it to intervene in the decision-making process of Aer Lingus and that to do so would “ultimately be damaging to the company and its customers”.
In a statement issued this evening, the Government said it remains committed to the Shannon region following the decision taken by Aer Lingus last week to move its Shannon to London-Heathrow slots to Belfast.
Speaking on behalf of the Government, Minister for Education Mary Hanafin said the decision to float Aer Lingus on the stock market was taken “in order to enable the airline to grow and compete effectively in a highly competitive aviation market”. “Ireland’s interests are best served by dynamic competition, with Aer Lingus as a strong player,” she said.
Which sounds like they are laying the groundwork to vote against any EGM motion to overturn the decision.
One question still looms: Where’s Bertie?
UPDATE: Via Slugger, who managed to find Hanafin’s statement in the 2006 press release archive. A symptom of a government not paying attention. Also, Aer Lingus have announced their limited schedule for the strike days. One gets the sense from their information for US passengers that their phone system is close to collapse.
interestingly Kileen was very hard to draw on backing the EGM motion to bring shannon-lhr back. He said he would commit as long as the motion did not have averse consequences and failed to specify what such consequences might be.
Bertie is stuck in a bunker in kenmare afraid the lulus from shannon may join the lulus chasing him down. Or he is belligerently trying to ride this one out and get away with another teflon moment.
There is also one Willy O Dea on morning Ireland this morning suggesting that Noel Dempsey is badly advised and doesn’t grasp the importance of this decision. The question is, if Willy does (by implication) grasp the importance, why are we not seeing government moves explicitly motivated by the gravity of the Aer Lingus move
I see now the signs of a nascent truce in the Aer Lingus strike have apparently evaporated as the union wants the Belfast recruitment off the table before there can be any negotiations. Between this and the stock market crash it doesn’t seem to have dawned on the cabinet that they’ll be coming back from their holliers to a very different environment than when they left.
Perhaps it has, which is why they are staying away!!
I see an interesting article dissecting Michael O’Leary’s role in this sorry affair…..
http://unrepentantcommunist.blogspot.com/2007/08/ryanairs-oleary-just-acting-maggot.html