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.