A lack of political clout has been blamed for Sligo's second-rate flight service after it was confirmed that early morning flights demanded by business people will not be provided.
The issue arose at a meeting of Sligo County Council's transportation policy committee, where IBEC representative Mr Rory O'Connor said other regional airports had early flights because greater political pressure was exerted.
The first flight out of Sligo each day leaves at 11.10 a.m.; Mr O'Connor said every regional airport in the State, except Sligo and Carrickfinn in Donegal, had an early morning service.
The chairman of Sligo County Council and a director of Sligo airport, Mr Roddy McGuinn, said yesterday he would be pushing strongly for such a service and another meeting would be held again shortly with Aer Arann. He said Sligo's position as a growth centre and as a gateway to the north-west was being undermined.
Knock airport has recently got a new service which departs at 7 a.m. and returns from Dublin at 7 p.m., also run by Aer Arann.
Mr McGuinn, a Fianna Fail councillor, said he accepted there might be "a grain of truth" in the argument that Sligo was suffering from a lack of political clout. "What they are saying basically is that we don't have a Government minister but we do have a chairman of the county council." Mr McGuinn said he had also written to the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, on the issue as she "holds the purse strings".
Mr O'Connor told The Irish Times that the service was useless for business people and was geared for leisure travellers from outside Ireland. Aer Arann had said an early morning flight service was not economically viable from Sligo, but how then was it viable from Knock, Mr O'Connor asked.
He said the service received a subsidy from the EU to reduce peripheral ity but this was not happening if it catered only for tourists. An early morning service would prove more expensive for Aer Arann as it would require keeping the aircraft overnight in Sligo.
A spokeswoman for Aer Arann said that the contract for Sligo stipulated that two flights a day be provided but did not stipulate an early morning service. She said the Department of Public Enterprise drew up the requirement for each route.
Contact number
Readers who want to contact Theresa Judge can leave messages for her at 01670 7711, ext 739. tjudge@irish-times.ie