Loss of Shannon-Heathrow link a big blow — why not forfeit Shannon-Iraq instead?

SO people are surprised at the Government’s handling of the Shannon-Heathrow link? Well, let’s compare and contrast with another route they do support — Shannon-Iraq.

Shannon-Heathrow is a very popular route which carries tourists and business people to London and beyond for fairly peaceful and lawful purposes agreeable to the Irish people.

Shannon-Iraq flights move troops, weapons, the CIA and possibly the odd torture victim for purposes of war, illegal occupation, killing Iraqis, which most Irish people oppose. That’s a difference, but what about similarities?

The Government played dumb about Aer Lingus’s decision to pull out. Now it seems they knew a lot earlier than they said they did.

In defending the US military use of Shannon, the Government repeated Bush’s lies about Saddam and the Blair dossier. It later emerged that the experts in our Department of Foreign Affairs told them before the war that the dossier was not credible.

The Government spends no money subsidising Aer Lingus at Shannon where Aer Lingus was belatedly offered reduced landing charges. The Government spends millions subsidising the US military at Shannon — approximately €4 million in air traffic control fees that the US refused to pay, as well as an even larger figure for the extra security including army, gardaí, building an enclosure for the military flights and a hi-tech motion detection system to guard the enclosure.

The fees the Pentagon pays do not cover these costs. They pay for fuel and food and a bit of duty-free. Taxpayers like myself pay for the rest. In fact, the US military, representing 6% of passengers at Shannon, account for 95% of security costs, and the more they use Shannon, the more it costs us. The loss of Shannon-Heathrow would be a big blow to the Irish economy, especially in the mid-west.

Stopping Shannon-Iraq would reduce the likelihood of anything blowing up in the mid-west (or the Middle East) and despite the Government spin, it would not impact significantly on the economy. In both cases, however, the Government is resolved to wash its hands and ignore the people who pay its salaries.

Tim Hourigan

12 Cedar Court

Kennedy Park

Limerick