Brennan is accused of trying to scuttle Shannon

TRANSPORT Minister Seamus Brennan was yesterday accused of trying to scuttle Shannon Airport and “sell out” the entire West of Ireland.

The Shannon Airport Western Alliance (SAWA) made the accusation following revelations by Mr Brennan that he intends to enter fresh negotiations with US authorities on the aviation deal between the two countries.

The minister rejected these claims and insisted he is trying to secure the best deal for Shannon and would not accept anything less than the same level of business or more for the airport.

Mr Brennan agreed last week to give the EU Commission a mandate to negotiate the future open-skies deal with the US for all member States and this could bring an end to the Shannon stopover.

However, SAWA cannot understand why the minister will not allow the EU Commission to do the negotiating for Ireland.

“The minister appears to be fast-tracking negotiations on Shannon in advance of the commission’s negotiations to help Aer Lingus secure more routes to the US in the next couple of months,” SAWA secretary Tom Kirby claimed.

SAWA are afraid that this will scuttle Shannon’s chances of getting a good deal out of the EU Commission’s negotiations and drastically reduce its level of business.

Limerick Chamber of Commerce of Commerce president John Rice said he was shocked to hear that the minister is going to take a pro-active approach to discussions with US authorities. In a letter to the minister, Mr Rice called on Mr Brennan to state clearly his plans for Shannon. However, the minister’s spokesman yesterday rejected claims that he was trying to scuttle Shannon.

“The EU has no problem with individual member states having discussions with the US on their own individual agreements before the Air Transport Agreement is finalised,” the spokesman added.

Mr Brennan revealed in the Dáil earlier this week that he intends to start bilateral discussions with the US authorities as early as possible to get the best possible outcome for Shannon.

“I reiterate my commitment that I will not agree to any changes until I am fully satisfied that Shannon has an equal or greater volume of aviation business available to it,” the minister added.

Mr Brennan is trying to get the best deal and he would be strongly criticised if he left all the negotiations up to the EU and the Irish people were not happy with the deal they secured, his spokesman added.

SAWA expect to meet Mr Brennan on Tuesday.