Tag Archives: transport

WITH Shannon Airport facing a huge challenge to recover traffic, the Oireacthas Joint Committee on Transport Committee is to suggest that Padraig Ó Céidigh be invited to be the full time chair of Shannon Group, expanding on the part time non executive role to which he is being appointed. Mr Ó Céidigh appeared before the committee today and was quite positive about a proposal from Senator Timmy Dooley that Shannon look at starting its own airline, The Fianna Fáil Senator asked “Is it now time for Shannon Airport to look at owning its own airline, to setting up an airline to serve routes that aren’t already served?” He said it would initially be a small airline, and that aircraft can be obtained relatively cheaply. “It certainly could be done in conjunction with the leasing companies. I think they’d give very favourable rates in the short term.” Mr Ó Céidigh, who bought Aer Arann in 1994 before expanding it dramatically, praised …

The Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan has today announced the appointment of Pádraig Ó Céidigh as Chairperson of Shannon Group. Mr Ó Céidigh is expected to formally take up the three-year appointment following an appearance before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications. A former Senator, Mr Ó Céidigh is a very successful entrepreneur and held senior management positions in Aer Arann for 26 years. The fact he has extensive experience in aviation and is from Galway will be welcomed by many political figures in Clare, who were anxious that someone with a relevant background and an understanding of the issues facing the west of Ireland be appointed. He takes the position at an extremely challenging time for Shannon, with aviation facing what’s expected to be a slow recovery following the pandemic. Commenting on his appointment, Mr Ó Céidigh said: “Shannon Airport is a vital economic engine for the Shannon Region and wider west of Ireland economy. It is …

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 …

CLARE Sinn Féin TD, Violet-Anne Wynne, has called on the Department of Education to immediately clarify the finer details around the July provision transportation grant. “I have been contacted by a number of families who are still in the dark in terms of when this grant will be paid. In this unprecedented time of Covid-19 families are forced to budget every penny of their household income to ensure they can keep going. Every year the department would have normally supplied transport via a contract through Bus Eireann, this year that was stopped due to Covid-19, leaving families to have to arrange their own transport to and from schools,” Deputy Wynne stated. “While parents were happy to arrange same, they have since been left in the dark by the department on when they will be able to reclaim these expenses from the grant scheme. Some parents have told me how they have been making round trips of 130km twice a day …

The passing for the Roads Bill 2014 paved the way for the establishment of a new agency -Transport Infrastructure Ireland – through the merger of the National Roads Authority (NRA) and the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA). The merger of NRA and RPA is intended to demonstrate the best and most efficient use of public resources consistent with the Government’s public sector reform agenda and, in particular, its Agency Rationalisation Programme, Transport Minister Paschal Donohoe said, “’The new merged body will benefit from the sharing of technical and professional expertise developed over the years in the RPA and NRA. This will help to create a new streamlined organisation which will play a key role in maximising the contribution that the State’s investment in transport can make to supporting our growing economy and to meeting Ireland’s longer-term economic and environmental objectives’. The ministerial orders, giving effect to the merger provisions contained in the Bill, will be executed in the coming weeks.

ALREADY contentious, Shannon based Fine Gael Senator Tony Mulcahy has turned up the political heat regarding the potential sale of the State’s share in Aer Lingus, as he has vowed to resign the party whip if the Government does sell to IAG. He made his comments after IAG CEO Willie Walsh addressed the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communications. Mr Walsh told the Committee that in the event of an IAG takeover, Shannon would get a five-year guarantee of Heathrow connectivity. However, after being quizzed by Senator Mulcahy, he acknowledged that he was not offering any guarantees around the preservation of the Aer Lingus services between Shannon and the US. While Mr Walsh did say that transatlantic services from Shannon have “huge potential” and that the numbers travelling on them are likely to increase in the summertime, this didn’t cut much ice with Senator Mulcahy. In a statement released shortly after the Committee sitting he said, “I cannot support …

SHANNON and Cork can have guarantees of Heathrow connectivity for five years if IAG buys the State’s share in Aer Lingus, its CEO Willie Walsh pledged at today’s meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communications. Clare political figures have expressed concern about the possibility of Shannon losing its vital connectivity to Heathrow in the event of a takeover, but Mr Walsh insisted that the guarantee he is offering is far better than what the airport actually has already. He also claimed that while the concern is at one level understandable, it is actually misplaced, given that the route is profitable. Indeed, he went so far as to say that the current Aer Lingus management could not match the IAG guarantee without drawing the ire of some of the shareholders. While he said IAG is happy to give the guarantees and that there is no reason to pull away from what is a profitable route, he stressed that he will not give …

THE current Aer Lingus ownership structure gives no guarantees on the provision of Shannon-Heathrow services, group strategy director of Shannon Group, Patrick Edmond said at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communication. Various political interests have called for the State’s shareholding in Aer Lingus to be retained, claiming it ensures connectivity for the Clare airport. However, Mr Edmond said that is not the case, pointing out that in 2007, Aer Lingus management, under the same ownership structure as exists now, transferred all of the Heathrow slots serving Shannon to Belfast. While Clare TD Timmy Dooley challenged him, Mr Edmond stood firm on his observations. In his first contribution to the sitting, Mr Edmond said that if the Government does opt to dispose of its 25% holding, it should make sure it gets some guarantees around connectivity. “We would, therefore, expect that any Government decision to sell the State’s Aer Lingus stake to IAG would be conditional on an enforceable …