Don’t knock Shannon just yet

A STATEMENT by Transport Minister Leo Varadkar claiming Shannon Airport could be left behind on the runway by Knock this year in terms of passenger numbers has been slammed as “farcical and ludicrous”.
Clare TD Timmy Dooley also accused Minister Varadkar of making the claim in an attempt to create fear in the Mid-West. It isn’t the first time the minister, dubbed ‘Leo the Lip’ by some, has caused annoyance in the Mid-West. Late last year he also warned that Shannon could be overtaken by the Mayo airport.
In an interview this week, Mr Varadkar said there is “a fairly good chance that Knock will overtake Shannon this year in terms of passenger numbers”.
He made the statement despite a huge gap in passenger figures between the two airports in 2011, with Shannon at slightly over 1.6 million passengers and Knock having 654,500.
Knock management has forecast 9% growth for 2012, while it is expected Shannon will see a decline, albeit a marginal one. Given these forecasts, it would seem that some totally unexpected events would be required for Knock to actually overtake Shannon in the passenger stakes.
Deputy Dooley said Mr Varadkar’s prediction is not realistic and criticised the Transport Minister for using scare tactics.
“I’m deeply disturbed by his comments, not for the first time he has sought to instil fear in the people of the Mid-West.
“It’s farcical and ludicrous to suggest that Knock is about to increase its passenger numbers to such an extent that it will overtake Shannon. It’s part of an ongoing campaign to browbeat people into submission to accept a set of proposals that ministers seem to favour regarding the separation of Shannon.”
Mr Dooley said he believed the separation of Shannon from the other State airports “has the greatest capacity to render it unviable in the long term”.
Councillor Patricia McCarthy said that while the reduced number of services at Shannon is worrying, she also does not believe it will be overtaken by Knock.
“I would hope that it wouldn’t but we are aware that people from the region are using services out of Knock at the moment. It is a concern that services aren’t provided at Shannon and people are going elsewhere, but I did think it was a big exaggerated.”