Cullen accused of ‘selling out on Shannon’

A NEW deal on transatlantic flights signed in New York yesterday by the Irish and US governments has received a mixed reaction.

But tourism groups welcomed the move.

Under the terms of the agreement made with US Secretary of Transport, Norman Mineta, airlines will be obliged to schedule only one Shannon transatlantic flight in every four operated out of Dublin from November 2006.

This will be for the duration of the lead-in period to the Open Skies deal between the EU and the US which comes into effect in April 2008.

Aer Lingus will get three new US destinations under the terms of the agreement.

Pat Fitzgerald, president of the SIPTU aviation branch in Shannon, said: “This is terrible news for Shannon. It is a bad and bleak day and will raise serious worries about employment down the road in the airport and industrial estate.

“One for four is a disaster and is close enough to Open Skies.”

He said the lack of daily Shannon transatlantic flights also had huge implications for the 11,000 workers in the Shannon industrial estate where 50% of the companies are US-owned.

Mr Fitzgerald said this was the biggest concentration of US companies outside Dublin and accessibility to the US was a major factor.

Public Accounts Committee chairman Michael Noonan TD said the deal demonstrated that Mr Cullen was an extremely bad negotiator.

“We needed a three-year lead-in period where the status quo remained. But from next November we have 75% Open Skies.”

Clare TD Pat Breen said: “This a complete sell-out by the minister of Shannon and the West.”

However, Limerick East TD Peter Power, who is chairman of the FF Transport Policy Group, said the US wanted a completely Open Skies policy immediately and “any concession is better than none”.

Meanwhile, The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) yesterday welcomed the re-negotiation of the bilateral air agreement as an enormous step forward for Irish tourism. The IHF says this will allow for increased air routes and new gateways from the US to Ireland.

“The finalisation of this agreement gives Ireland the potential to double the number of US visitors to Ireland by 2012 to two million,” an IHF spokesman said.

“This would result in almost 150,000 extra US visitors to Ireland each year, adding €100 million in revenue to the Irish economy.”

Fáilte Ireland chief executive Shaun Quinn said: “The new arrangements will see more US visitors to Ireland, who stay longer, spend more, and travel through the regions more than holiday-makers from other countries.”