Government commitments that count for almost nothing

WE had a globe of the world at home when I was a child. What was striking about it was that only two places were identified in Ireland. One was Dublin and the other was Shannon.

Population-wise, the Clare town was relatively insignificant. But what literally put it on the world map was the status of its international airport and its huge importance as a transatlantic hub especially when the range of long-distance jets was more limited. For sure, the history of Irish aviation had Shannon at its heart.

But well over half a century of proud history has counted for little this year as the airport has faced up to the reality of slow long-term demise and being cast into the wilderness by the Government. First, there was the end of the compulsory transatlantic stopover. And now the further injurious strike this week when Aer Lingus peremptorily transferred its Heathrow slots from the mid-West to Belfast.

What has added insult to injury this week has been the silence of the Government and its ministers. This is the same Government that has a 25.35% share in the airline, the same Government that made solemn oaths last autumn that the Heathrow slots at Shannon and Cork would not be lightly ceded, and the same Government that has meekly acted as a bystander and allowed Aer Lingus have a free rein in ditching Shannon’s Heathrow service.

The new Transport Minister Noel Dempsey has won a reputation for being tough, straight-talking and honest in his previous ministries.

But the most the Meath man (in the mould of legendary full back Mick Lyons) could muster this week was a one-line statement, issued through his press office. It was a commercial decision. It was regrettable. Sorry, no other comment.

There have been a couple of accusations and conspiracy theories doing the rounds this week. But while nobody in Government has bothered to rebut them, they have (at least for now) some validity. Was the decision (and what beautiful choreography there was in Belfast on Tuesday) some kind of quid pro quo deal related to the Northern peace process?

Is there a belief within Government that those outside the Pale will tolerate far more (like debt-laden airports; or cryptosporidium-infected water, or the loss of lucrative slots at the world’s busiest airport) than those in the capital?

However, trying to get some clarity from Government this week has been a completely frustrating experience.

Besides the one-line statement issued on behalf of Mr Dempsey, the Government has remained silent and refused to treat with, or clarify, some fundamental questions that have arisen.

And most of those questions come courtesy of Michael O’Leary and Ryanair. Off-the-record, Government officials scoff at O’Leary, the arch capitalist, now portraying himself as the champion of State intervention. But O’Leary is simply throwing back at the Government what it threw at him when defending Aer Lingus from Ryanair’s takeover bid last autumn.

Heathrow slots were central to the debate about the privatisation of Aer Lingus. Critics were worried that a private Aer Lingus would sell them off to the highest bidder. In a series of statements in the summer and autumn of 2006 the then minister Martin Cullen gave reassurances about retaining the slots.

Government officials and advisers have portrayed the move from Shannon to Belfast as a ‘redistribution’ or ‘transfer’ rather than a disposal. In other words the number of Heathrow slots for the island of Ireland remain the same — we haven’t lost any.

Yes, we all have unity aspirations but there’s no escaping the fact that slots have now left our jurisdiction.

And last October, the then minister went much further than just saying that Ireland would retain the net number of slots.

With the Government being a 25.4% shareholder, the minister set out criteria on any possible disposal of the Heathrow slots that were included in the articles of association.

In typical overwrought Cullen phraseology, he stated that the three/four Heathrow slots for Shannon and four for Cork were critical to “ensuring connectivity”.

He said that the Government would be “unlikely to support a proposed disposal” of any Heathrow slots for Shannon and Cork. If Aer Lingus management proposed that, the Government would then be likely to request an extraordinary general meeting.

It all sounded watertight, didn’t it? As hermetically sealed as a colander, as it turned out.

Did the Government carry out an assessment of the move? Sorry, they forgot about that. Was the Government, as it threatened, unlikely to support the disposal of slots from Shannon and Cork? Not a hope. Did it call an EGM as Mr Cullen promised? No. Did it take into account — as it promised — the services operated by other carriers from Cork and Shannon to London Heathrow? Nope.

What happened was this: Mr Dempsey was briefed about it by Aer Lingus on Friday. The Government’s reaction? It rolled over and ceded to a commercial but unfortunate decision.

If it has happened in Shannon, there’s no guarantee that the same thing won’t happen to Cork, as an expanding Aer Lingus operation in Belfast gobbles up its four slots.

O’Leary used strong language to describe this rollover. The Government had lied, he claimed. For once, you felt that he was not over-stewing the tea on the hob.