Leo slapped down on rural airport support by his party’s top MEP
THE Fine Gael MEP who chaperoned Leo Varadkar around Limerick only last week has now publicly contradicted the Taoiseach over the lack of funding for regional airports.
Seán Kelly, who was alongside Mr Varadkar for much of his meet-the-people tour of Limerick and Cork, said Shannon Airport needs an ‘injection of investment’ to counter the dominance of Dublin.
The former GAA president said: ‘I was appalled when I saw the figures for the number of new passengers coming into Dublin Airport compared to the rest of the country. There will have to be a huge push at Irish and European level to address this.
‘ What i s happening at the moment is almost immoral. I see it myself going in and out of Dublin Airport. Every flight is late, it can be anything up to an hour or 90 minutes late. This shows the level of congestion.
‘This should help us to see the need to develop the other airports, particularly Shannon.’
Mr Varadkar stoutly defended Government policy on regional airports last month, saying: ‘It is a statement of fact that Dublin is overly dominant in aviation in Ireland and there has been more growth in Dublin than the other airports. If anyone thinks that the Government can tell people what airport they should fly to, or which routes airlines should choose, they are wrong.’
But in an interview with the Clare Champion Mr Kelly, who is seeking re-election in the Ireland South constituency for Fine Gael, suggested the aviation policy isn’t working. He said: ‘If you have massive growth in Dublin Airport and little or no growth in Shannon Airport, there is no point in having airports if they are not being used to their maximum. Shannon has been a key airport for 75 years.
‘It now needs an injection of investment for the whole region to develop. It needs to be developed a lot more. Business people need connectivity. They don’t want to be l anding in Dublin Airport and having to drive down to the Mid-West.’
He added: ‘Connectivity will be vital, particularly with the advent of the Wild Atlantic Way. There is no need for people to be flying into Dublin. Visitors can enjoy the Wild Atlantic Way and stay along the West coast. We need a few extra flights, one is not enough. If I am flying to Brussels if there is only a flight every second or third day, it is no use.’
The Taoiseach had described Government aviation policy as ‘really positive’, with passenger growth in Cork as well as Dublin. ‘Ultimately, it is people booking flights who decide what flights are viable, and airlines making commercial decisions. There is no Government policy which can change that. We can ensure that other airports grow as well. There is no government who can tell people which city to fly to. If you were booking a flight to go to Italy and if you were told you couldn’t go to Rome you had to go to Florence, what would you do, not book the flight?’
He said that Shannon is much more than a passenger airport, it is an industrial campus as well, adding: ‘There are new flights between Dublin and China, it would be great if there were flights between Shannon and China. It wasn’t Dublin competing with Shannon, it was Dublin competing with Amsterdam and Frankfurt.
‘Sometimes if something is lost to Dublin, it is lost to Ireland.’
‘What’s happening is almost immoral’