Irish Election - Coverage of Irish Politics, News and Current Affairs

Today’s Financial Times carries a bleak interview with Aer Lingus CEO Dermot Mannion, which of course is part of a pattern of bleak economic news these days.  One part of it brings us back to the uproar that surrounded the departure of Aer Lingus from Shannon for the El Dorado of Belfast –

The people of the Shannon region probably would have ranked the options for airport hub connections as follows: (1) restoration of the Aer Lingus service, (2) British Midland to Heathrow, and (3) service to a continental hub.  For now they are getting the third, with Cityjet service to Roissy/Charles de Gaulle, meaning connections to the [...]

A quick review of where things stand on Aer Lingus and its services to Heathrow.  First, yet more evidence that Belfast is not the golden goose that EI seemed to think it was heading towards.  Easyjet is beginning European services out of Aldergrove almost immediately, including one to Barcelona that will compete head-to-head with Aer [...]

Another embarrassing revelation in this morning’s Examiner for Fianna Fail and some fantastic FOI work by them it has to be said. Dermot McCarthy, Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach and Secretary General to the Government, had been told by the Department of Transport of the Aer Lingus decision in advance by around [...]

Video from yesterday’s Save Our Slots Rally
I am unable to embed them here, but they can be found at the below link
Link.
Update Simon. Video added below

There was a lively atmosphere on O’Connell Street in Limerick today with a red army again packing the street. Today rather than rugby, it was the issue of Shannon and its slots that were the main event. The press are pulling their punches at the moment but the only FF TD, John Creegan, on the [...]

Two bits of business in this post.  First, the sharp-eyed squid has pointed out that the first hints of an Aer Lingus move to Belfast appeared not in mid-June but in late May.  Below, the rest of the Irish News story to which squid refers.  Second, another interesting thing from the NI media.  Willie Walsh noted as expressing [...]

If the Dail stays on schedule, ministerial questions will begin in about 10 minutes (link to live broadcast) at which time Noel Dempsey will be asked to explain the 6 week gap between his department knowing about the Shannon-Belfast Heathrow slot switch and him knowing about it.  Still unsolved, and perhaps to be explored in [...]

In news that does not seem to be generally available yet, Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal is reporting (subs. req’d) that the European Commission has rejected the request from Aer Lingus to force Ryanair to sell its 29.4% stake in the company.  The key point –
Philip Lowe, the EU’s director general for competition, said the European [...]

Here’s the Tribune story with the key points from Noel Dempsey’s interview with them about Shannon-Heathrow. In remarks that are likely to inflame the crisis, at least in the short-term, Dempsey states that: Shannon-Heathrow is a lost cause for now (consistent with the imminent deadline to have a new route in place); that he [...]

The governments get out of jail card over Shannon has gone puff. With British Midland deciding not to set-up a base in Shannon this will put more pressure on the government. The Shannon issue had died down a bit but now it will return.

DEFENCE Minister Willie O’Dea verbally abused two people during a pub row over Shannon Airport and offered to fight one of them, it was claimed last night.
Need I say anymore?

The departments of an Taoiseach and transport have made available the report of senior officials on the Shannon-Heathrow route along with a press release from the government  summarising the report and outlining next steps.  The press release is the usual blather and jargon but the detailed report is actually a little more substantive, indicating that [...]

Tomorrow’s a big day for political junkies; the return of an Dáil after the summer recess and the first chance for the opposition to weigh in - and the Government to defend itself - on Ahern’s tribunal performance, Aer Lingus’ exit from Shannon and all the other ills that afflicted the country over the not-so-sunny [...]

(Diarmy.net) Shannon? Has anyone uttered it in the past week?? As if to prove the point of it being silly-season in the media, focus has been diverted from the so-called ‘debacle’ over Shannon Airport to the sordid business of Judge Alan Mahon hauling our Prime Minister, Taoiseach, Head of State, All-Round Good-Guy, Bertie Ahern up [...]

Here’s another shoe dropping in the SNN-LHR row.  Ryanair is putting Stansted flights from Belfast City (George Best).  4 a day.  They also want a runway expansion to facilitate additional flights from Belfast City as a new base.  As usual, every move can be spun various ways.  Aer Lingus will now claim vindication: that Ryanair [...]