LABOUR leader Eamon Gilmore has called on Defence Minister Willie O’Dea and Government TDs from the west to take a stand with the people they represent in a Dáil vote on the Shannon-Aer Lingus controversy.

SHANNON Airport employees angry at Aer Lingus’s decision to end its Shannon-Heathrow flights have sent an estimated 2,500 protest letters to the six Fianna Fáil TDs in the region.

Fine Gael Leader Enda Kenny will today travel to Co Clare to meet business and tourism chiefs angered by the Aer Lingus decision to axe its Shannon Heathrow service.

The threat of strike action by Air Lingus pilots is expected to cost the airline in the region of €3.5m.

The Government tonight pledged to do everything in its power to restore alternative Heathrow Airport services to the Mid-West region.

Aer Lingus pilots are optimistic that a solution can be found in a row with the airline’s management over job conditions at a new hub in Belfast, they said today.

The fight to retain the Shannon-Heathrow link will be taken to the EU and through the courts if necessary.