MINISTER FOR Transport Noel Dempsey has said there is no sign that the loss of the Shannon-Heathrow service "has brought about the disaster that people were talking about or feared".
In Shannon for the first time since the Aer Lingus decision last August to end its Heathrow route out of Shannon, Mr Dempsey yesterday said that 300 high-quality jobs had been announced for Shannon since the start of the year and "we shouldn't really be getting bogged down in negativity".
Launching the Atlantic Way 2020 Vision document that outlines infrastructure priorities for the region, Mr Dempsey said: "While everybody was worried seeing all sorts of doomsday scenarios, the Atlantic Way was saying 'let's not be negative about this, let's look at what strengths we have, what we need and let's go about trying to get them', and I think that is a very positive attitude and one that will pay dividends."
Figures from the Shannon Airport Authority have shown that traffic on its London routes is down 16 per cent and that its transatlantic numbers are down 19 per cent, contributing to a 9 per cent drop in overall passenger numbers for the first six months of the year.
The main beneficiary of Shannon's loss of the Heathrow route is the Cork Airport Authority, which has enjoyed a 13.5 per cent increase on its London Heathrow service, up from 224,669 for the first six months of last year to 255,000 in the same period this year.
The Atlantic Way 2020 document focuses on the completion of a dual-carriageway between Ennis and Galway and on Shannon being an autonomous, fully resourced airport and becoming a base for US Customs and Border Protection.
Chief executive of Atlantic Way Paul O'Brien said: "Minister Dempsey's endorsement and support of the key infrastructural priorities today, from the importance of a fully resourced, autonomous Shannon airport to the completion of the roads programme, shows there is strong political will and support behind these critical priorities."
Atlantic Way chairman Brian O'Connell said: "There has been fantastic support within the region for the creation of the Atlantic Way 2020 document. A key objective is that this will be seen and interacted with as a working, community document for everyone within the Atlantic Way."
Mr Dempsey said the Gort- Crusheen bypass scheme would proceed. On transport capital projects that had been planned, he said: "Government is appraising all of those and, before the budget this year, we will have a good idea of what the capital projects are.
"We are not talking about cancelling projects per se, but there has to be a re-prioritisation.
"As of now, I can't tell you what that prioritisation might be, but ones that are already in train, where money has been provided for, like the major inter-urban roads, like the Atlantic Way, and sections of that will continue."
