McCarthy and Breen speak out on airport

LITTLE detail was given about the amount of finance available to drive Shannon over the next five years, Councillor Patricia McCarthy claimed on Wednesday evening.

She was speaking after hearing a presentation on the future of Shannon, which was given by senior representatives of the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) and the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), including SAA chairman Brian O’Connell and Declan Collier, chief executive of the DAA.
Councillor McCarthy said she was disappointed that more detail hadn’t been given. “It is a great vision but there were no details about money. They said that the details were commercially sensitive, but we weren’t asking them to go into fine detail just to give broad figures.”
She said that the lack of information about the type of investment to be made meant that the stakeholders who attended Wednesday’s briefing only received a quite limited amount of information.
In a statement Deputy Pat Breen also said he was disappointed that more information wasn’t made available.
“I am very disappointed at the lack of details and specifics contained in this strategy. By 2015, the SAA predict a passenger throughput of 2.5 million. In 2009 the passenger throughput at Shannon Airport was 2.7 million so that according to this Report after five years the Airport will be just about returning to 2009 levels, meaning that there will be virtually no growth.
“Given the improved infrastructure in the Region and the expansion of Shannon Airport’s catchment area, I would now have to question what efforts are being made to encourage people from this expanded catchment area to use Shannon Airport.”
He said he was pleased to see that there were positive signs in regard to the development of a Lynxs cargo hub.
“I welcome the positive indication in terms of the development of a cargo hub at the airport and the potential for job creation in the region which this presents. I am aware that negotiations between the DAA and the Lynxs Cargo Group are a delicate stage.
“I was hoping that these negotiations could have been finalised in time for today’s presentation, nevertheless, I do hope that they will come to a successful conclusion shortly and that the Government will not delay any decision on funding for the project.”