Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey has been accused by Fine Gael of washing his hands of Shannon airport and the mid west region by saying it is too late to save the Aer Lingus service to London's Heathrow.
In a newspaper interview this morning, Mr Dempsey revealed he plans to appoint two new directors to the board of Aer Lingus with instructions to block the transfer of the airline's Heathrow slots from Cork and Dublin. The Government has a 25 per cent stake in the airline.
The airline has already controversially decided to scrap its Heathrow services in Shannon in favour of a Belfast hub, much to the anger of the local business community in the mid west.
Mr Dempsey's moves to protect Aer Lingus's Heathrow slots in Cork and Dublin airports have been described as "too little, too late" by the State's largest union Siptu, while Fine Gael said an earlier action could have saved the Shannon routes.
Mr Dempsey told the Sunday Tribuneit was too late to save the Shannon services but he would not let a similar situation occur elsewhere.
"What we are going to do is appoint the two members to the board and we will look at the mandate that we give them to make it [the requirement to protect the slots] very, very clear, " he told the paper.
"We would have directors on the board who, with the benefit of the experience we now have, would be taking a different attitude to any decision like that".
Fine Gael's transport spokesman Fergus O'Dowd accused Mr Dempsey of washing his hands of Shannon.
"By claiming it is too late to save the Shannon to Heathrow routes Noel Dempsey is admitting that he has failed. He is also abdicating his responsibility as Transport Minister to protect the country's aviation interests and regional development.
"Although Minister Dempsey has finally moved to fill the two vacant Government-nominated seats on the Aer Lingus board, he should have done this as soon as he was appointed to the Cabinet.
"Had he done so there is a strong possibility that the Shannon routes could have been saved by increasing the Government's representation on the board."
Siptu's National Industrial Secretary Michael Halpenny asked if Mr Dempsey can appoint new directors to protect the Heathrow slots for Cork and Dublin "why can't he do the same for Shannon and the mid-west?"
"Either the Government is powerless to protect our other major hubs or it can save Shannon. It cannot have it both ways.
"What does the Government know now that it didn't know when it stood idly by and let Aer Lingus management decide to pull the plug on Shannon? And how are we to know that the new measures will be effective?
"We were told when Aer Lingus was privatised that safeguards were in place to protect existing hubs and employment. These questions require answers, and soon, if the credibility of the state's aviation policy is to be restored."
