Tag Archives: Boston

AWARD-winning North Clare businesswoman Breege O’Donoghue should be reinstated to her position on the board of Fáilte Ireland, according to Clare’s Fianna Fáil senator, who has warned about the risks of “blood letting”. The Boston native stepped down last month after controversially travelling to a non-Green List country, at a time when a major summer ‘staycation’ campaign was running. Ms O’Donoghue also tendered her resignation as Chair of the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland (DCCI), but has since been reinstated, prompting Senator Timmy Dooley to call for her to be reappointed to the tourism board. “I very much believe in the public health message,” said Senator Dooley, “but we need to be really careful of the blame game. The kind of expertise that Ms O’Donoghue has is not in huge supply. It’s not the same things as having a government minister resign. They can be moved around reasonably easily.” Ms O’Donoghue’s was the second resignation from the board of …

THERE had been fears that Shannon’s transatlantic connectivity was set for another pummelling, with Aer Lingus possibly transferring Shannon-USA routes to the UK, but it now seems that such concern was unwarranted. It is understood that at a recent strategic planning meeting of Aer Lingus, the airline committed to operating a summer 2021 schedule to New York and Boston, using aircraft which will be based at Shannon. It is expected that there will be two A321neo aircraft at the Clare airport, each one of which has 184 seats. While Aer Lingus may still opt to begin transatlantic services from the north of England, this will not be at Shannon’s expense. Although getting back to normal transatlantic services is still way off and dependent on the Covid-19 situation stabilising, the fact that Aer Lingus is planning to continue with the services will come as a major relief to all concerned with tourism and industry in the region. Shannon has already lost …

HE grew up in working-class South Boston in a home with nine people to one bathroom, but a glittering career has seen David McCourt amass an estimated fortune of $1 billion. The Irish Times described him as “the most successful Irish American tech businessman you’ve never heard of”, and his company Enet has been chosen to finally roll out the national broadband plan. Now the Boston entrepreneur, who has a house in Newmarket-on-Fergus where he spends much of his time, has written a book explaining what he feels people need to do to succeed in a fast-changing world. McCourt has obviously enjoyed a huge amount of success himself, giving him a certain amount of gravitas when it comes to the subject of his book, Total Rethink. The 60-year-old says people need to make the most of all their abilities, and shouldn’t confine their expectations of themselves. “I’ve made a career, and a life, on being both left- and right-brained and …

AER LINGUS has opted to reverse a pattern of recent years at Shannon, opting to continue with its New York service in the opening months of 2019, while suspending its Boston service. A spokesperson for Shannon said that in the final analysis Aer Lingus will now be able to accommodate more passengers travelling between Shannon and the US due to this move. “On balance we are pleased with the extra transatlantic capacity that this service switch creates. This change strengthens Aer Lingus’s commitment to Shannon by adding an extra 2,500 (seats) and restores a year-round service from New York to Shannon, but we are disappointed that the Boston market can only be accessed via New York for this two month winter period.” While the statement said that Shannon would continue to work with Aer Lingus on the Boston service, there are extra benefits to maintaining a link with a major global hub like JFK. “The benefits of the restoration and …

NORTH Clare milliner Margaret O’Connor has just returned home from China this week with a Global Innovation Design Award, having showcased at Guangzhou International Fashion Week. The Boston, Tubber woman was invited to design a collection of hats to complement a line of clothing by London-based fashion designer Derek Lawlor at the event in China. Margaret made 15 hats accompanying Derek Lawlor’s 30 looks at a catwalk event, as part of the international fashion week. Exhibited as a designer in her own right, Margaret was delighted to then be chosen as the recipient of a Global Innovation Design Award at the closing of the 10-day fashion extravaganza. Guangzhou International Fashion Week showcased more than 150 designers across its programme of events and Margaret said she was delighted to be the only Irish designer among them. She explained how a friend of Derek’s felt his line needed a little something extra and he approached Margaret to create stunning hats to complement …

A Shannon Group delegation is the United States this week attending a number of high-level political and business events to promote the wider region for inward investment and tourism. Representatives are attending events in Washington, Boston, New York and Philadelphia over the course of three days. The delegation is led by chairman Rose Hynes, who will head up the St Patrick’s Day promotion with Shannon Group chief commercial officer, Andrew Murphy and Shannon Group head of marketing, Marie Slattery. Among the high level events attended by Ms Hynes was the St Patrick’s Day Breakfast at Vice President Joe Biden’s residence, at which he singled out Shannon for special attention in his address.She also attended the New York Stock Exchange St Patrick’s Day bell ringing event with a host of Irish and US business leaders. This afternoon (Wednesday,local time Washington) will attend the official St Patrick’s Day reception with President Barak Obama in the White House. Ms Hynes said,“Vice President Joe …

Shannon Airport’s upward swing continues, with five percent growth achieved in passenger numbers last month compared to May 2014. The biggest growth market was the US, the highest spending market for inbound tourism, with an 18% increase across the airport’s US network, which has services to Boston, Chicago, JFK New York, Newark and Philadelphia – in May. Shannon Group CEO Neil Pakey said, “We are having a really good start to the summer season again. The airport is busy, there’s a great buzz here, we are seeing more inbound tourists and the Irish economy is continuing to rebound so outbound passengers are also on the rise. All this is reflected in growth last month. “From an inbound perspective the US is a hugely important market and the 18% growth in May will be well received in tourism related businesses across the region. We are also up by 15% in terms of European passengers and 3% on London, the single biggest …

Aer Lingus’ decision to cancel flights between Shannon and Boston between March 29 and April 8, is not going down well in the county. In particular, reports that the Shannon service is being temporarily sacrificed to free up an aircraft to operate a Dublin-US service have not been met with a warm welcome in the Mid West. In a statement, the airline said the flight on April 2 is not affected but other services will not operate. “We are currently communicating directly with customers impacted by the cancellations. We have made a number of alternative travel options available to impacted customers, including alternative routings or alternative dates of travel. We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused and are doing all possible to minimise the disruption to customer’s travel plans”. Asked if facilitating Dublin services was in fact the reason for the Shannon cancellation, an Aer Lingus spokesperson said, “We have less long-haul aircraft available than are required to meet our operational …