Shannon debate - Authorities deserve full autonomy

When an official of the Department of Transport first learnt on June 13 that Aer Lingus was considering the transfer to Belfast of all Shannon flights to Heathrow, he telephoned the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) to learn details of the Shannon-Heathrow service, such as the frequency of flights and how well they were doing commercially.

The feedback on the performance at that time was quite positive. Heathrow flights enjoyed 70% occupancy, and had improved in the past year following the withdrawal of two competing services offered by Easyjet and Ryanair.

The official explained that Aer Lingus was serious about pulling the Heathrow flights out of Shannon, but the DAA never informed its subsidiary, the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA). As a result the SAA only learnt of the plans when they were announced last August.

The DAA official was placed in an invidious position, because he was given the information on the basis of strict confidentiality, and the decision on transferring the Heathrow service to Belfast had not been finalised at that time. Nevertheless the official did include all this commercial intelligence in a “Note for the Minister’s Information,” drafted the same day.

John Murphy, the assistant secretary of the department, thought this information was so important that he promptly telephoned Dermot Mannion, the chief executive of Aer Lingus, to verify the report. Mr Mannion confirmed that Aer Lingus was considering the move, but for some reason Transport Minister Noel Dempsey was not informed until Aer Lingus made the formal announcement more than six weeks later.

This is an intolerable situation, which threatens to undermine our system of democratic accountability. There should never be any question of such information being withheld from the responsible minister. Heads should roll in the figurative sense to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again.

Tension already existed between the DAA and its two subsidiary airports at Shannon and Cork.

The latter two have their own authorities and have assumed responsibility for the day-to-day running of their airports, but full autonomy has not yet been transferred to either airport.

There is an inevitable element of commercial rivalry and competition between all of the airports.

In the circumstances the other airport authorities are unlikely to have any confidence in the DAA to act in the best interest of either Shannon or Cork airports in future.

The disclosure that the DAA was aware of such an important development for six weeks and withheld the news from its Shannon subsidiary highlights the need for both Shannon and Cork airport authorities to have full autonomy without further delay.