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‘No friend of Shannon’ appointed to new Dublin Airport Authority board

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Public representatives in the county have expressed their concern at the lack of a Mid-West voice among new appointments to the board of the Dublin Airport Authority. One local councillor went so far as to say one of the incoming board members is “no friend of Shannon”.

Among the appointees announced by Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport to the board, which manages Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports, is Colm McCarthy, lecturer in economics at University College Dublin. Mr McCarthy chaired the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes, sometimes referred to as An Bord Snip Nua, which recommended the discontinuation of operational grants for regional airports and eliminating the public service obligation for regional air services.
Also named on the new board is outgoing DAA board member and former chairman of Cork Airport Authority Gerry Walsh, as well as John Lynch, who is part of the senior management team at aircraft leasing company BBAM.
Clare County Councillor Patricia McCarthy described Mr McCarthy as “no friend of Shannon. Historically he has been disparaging in his remarks in relation to Shannon Airport. He doesn’t have a feel for regionalisation or the importance of the region, in my opinion”. 
The Independent councillor stated she is more uneasy because of the Minister’s delay in coming up with concrete proposals in respect of Shannon.
“More importantly,” she added, “the figures for 2011 show that the route incentive money of somewhere in the region of €1.6m went to routes to Dublin and none were incentivised to or from Shannon… I have never accepted that you should have to incentivise routes into the capital city of any country. It should stand on its own for attracting business and incentives should be for areas that need them, like Shannon Airport.”
Opposition TD Timmy Dooley said that while three vacancies remain on the board, he too is concerned that no Mid-West representative had yet been named on it.
“I am deeply disappointed that the most recent board appointments do not include anyone from the mid-west region,” he said.
“While I know Colm McCarthy is undoubtedly a qualified professional, some of his comments in the past in relation to infrastructural investment in rural areas as a constituent part of balanced regional development have been questionable. I am certainly concerned that he hasn’t shown an appreciation in the past for the role of infrastructural investment in areas outside the Dublin region,” Deputy Dooley continued.
Meanwhile, Minister Varadkar expressed his appreciation that three persons “with such a range of talents and experiences have agreed to serve on the board of the DAA”, and said he looked forward to working with them, their colleagues on the DAA board and the DAA’s executives in the period ahead.
Wednesday evening’s announcement follows the appointment of solicitor Padraig O’Riordain to the role of chairman of the DAA board earlier in the year.

 

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