Passenger numbers on the abandoned Aer Lingus Shannon-London Heathrow service increased by more than 10,000 last year.
The mayor of Clare, Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind), told the January meeting of Clare County Council yesterday that the number of people that travelled on the service last year was 331,882 - a rise of 10,594, or 3 per cent, on the 2006 performance.
Ger Dollard, a senior council official who represented the local authority on the Atlantic Connectivity Alliance (ACA), told councillors that the ACA opted not to legally challenge the Aer Lingus decision to transfer the Heathrow slots to Belfast after seeking extensive legal advice, including advice from senior counsel.
Mr Dollard said that the advice to the ACA was that only a party with 10 per cent of the shareholding of Aer Lingus at the time of privatisation would have standing in a legal challenge.
He said that a full analysis was made of the Aer Lingus shareholder register by the ACA, and that the Employee Shareholder Ownership Trust was contacted on the issue.
Reflecting on the failed campaign to have Aer Lingus reverse the decision, Cllr McCarthy told the meeting that "the region was let down by Government who colluded with Aer Lingus and Government officials who colluded with each other".
She said: "We were told that it would be all right on the night, but there was no miracle on the 13th of January." The increase in passengers on the route last year followed a drop in passenger numbers on the service over the previous three years.
In a Fianna Fáil briefing document circulated last September, it was pointed out that passenger numbers fell by 11 per cent on the Shannon-Heathrow route over the preceding three years and that the number of destinations that connecting passengers from Shannon used out of Heathrow had dropped by 30 per cent over the same period.
Speaking at a press briefing in Limerick to mark Shannon Development's end of year statement, Cllr John Brassil (FF) also expressed his disappointment at the ending of the Heathrow service.
The chairman of the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA), Pat Shanahan, is to appear before the Oireachtas Transport Committee today, where he is expected to press the case for the authority to be made independent.
A business plan in that regard has been lodged with the Dublin Airport Authority, and Shannon Development chief executive Kevin Thompstone said: "If anybody needed an argument as to why we should have a stand-alone, independent Shannon or Cork or Dublin, I think the Shannon-Heathrow issue provides all the argument you would need on that point."
He added: "We think it is essential that Shannon is immediately freed up to become an autonomous and financially viable entity, managed and developed by the region for the region and the west of Ireland."
