Tag Archives: Eamon Ryan

SHANNON Airport will not be going back under the Dublin Airport Authority, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan has confirmed. While Shannon Airport struggled when part of the DAA, it has also failed to reach targets set for it at the time it separated at the end of 2012. While 2020 had been set to be Shannon’s best year since separation, the onset of the pandemic has seen calls from Sinn Féin and some trade union elements for the airport to go back under the DAA. However in the Dáíl, in response to a statement from Limerick TD Maurice Quinlivan, who argued that Shannon needs to go back under the DAA, the Minister said, “I believe Deputy Quinlivan said that Shannon Airport should be regrouped under the DAA. I will be honest. I met the unions based in the airport. I felt that change would take two or three years and would not solve the underlying strategic issues. We have to make …

The new Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan, is “considering” a wide range of financial supports for Shannon Airport. Deputy Joe Carey, who is also the chair of the all-party Shannon Airport Oireachtas Group, raised the ongoing challenges facing the airport with Minister Ryan in the Dáil. The Clare TD also called for Shannon Heritage sites, including Bunratty Castle, Knappogue Castle, Craggaunowen, Dunguaire Castle and King John’s Castle to be provided with support to allow them to remain open for the whole year. Deputy Carey said: “These attractions bring people to Clare and the Mid-West. It is crazy and ridiculous that the Shannon Group would close these sites, especially when we are pushing the whole idea of staycations. “There is a major opportunity here: We simply need to embrace and support it. I appealed to the Minister to do precisely that.” Deputy Carey told Minister Ryan in the Dáil: “We need state aid now, and we need the Minister to roll …

SENATOR Róisín Garvey has pledged to arrange a meeting of the seven Oireachtas members to discuss how the key issues facing Clare can be addressed. In an interview with the Clare Champion, Senator Garvey stressed the three new senators and four Dáil deputies had to work together to revitalise Shannon Airport, tourism and small and medium enterprises that have been hit hard by Covid-19 restrictions. “It is very important that the seven Oireachtas members work together. I think there is a lot on rural development, remote working and Greenways such as the Ennis to Kilkee Greenway in the new Programme for Government. “If we would get wifi hubs in villages and towns, that would help people to work remotely. There are also plans to upgrade derelict buildings in villages, which has been difficult to do because it is very bureaucratic and expensive up to now. “It is important to bring people back to live in towns and villages,” she said. …

RÓISÍN Garvey admits she is “still in shock” with her nomination to Seanad Eireann and acknowledges it will take her a while to get used to being called Senator Garvey. On Saturday, Green Party leader, Eamon Ryan contacted her around 3pm to inform her she would be going to the Seanad as one of the 11 Taoiseach nominees and only told her parents as she joked “people are very bad at keeping secrets, particularly good ones”. “I felt really good for the people who helped me in politics. When I lost the General Election I had about 100 supporters helping me. They were nearly more disappointed than me that I didn’t become a Dáil deputy. I think this is a boost for them. “I can now work on legislation that will help local authorities. Being a senator is an important role,” she said. She is just the third Clare female Senator following in the footsteps of Tras Honan and Madeleine …

Tony Killeen, who served in several ministerial positions in a Fianna Fáil/ Green Party / Progressive Democrat Party Government is confident that the incoming tri-party coalition administration can succeed. Stating it is time to put 100 years of Civil War politics behind us, he said, “I believe that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party can provide a solid platform for Ireland to recover and grow from the Covid-19 setback. “To have formed a national government would have been disastrous for the country; nothing would be done, and it would probably have lasted 18 months at most. From the outset the partners would have been preparing for an inevitable general election.” Mr Killeen, who served as Minister for Defence for a year up to his retirement from politics in 2011 for health reasons, was also a Minister of State in Forestry and Fisheries, as well as Environment and Energy, so has a good understanding of the Greens stance on …

The Seanad has today (Wednesday) passed a motion, which received Labour Party support, proposing a referendum on the future ownership of Irish Water. Green Party leader, Eamon Ryan welcomed Labour’s Seanad stance on the issue. “The Green Party put this issue on the national agenda, and we welcome the growing coalition in support of the proposal,” he said. Mr Ryan said the Taoiseach should now reconsider the approach he articulated yesterday opposing such a referendum. “It is clear from the vote in the Seanad today that his Labour partners are taking a different position. The Government should now consider the referendum issue within the context of the new proposals around Irish water that they intend presenting in two weeks time. “This gives the Government time to consider the best wording and timeline for a referendum. We would be happy to share the wording we have proposed, along with the legal advice we have availed of, in proposing this idea,” Mr Ryan …