Madam, - The recent announcement that Aer Lingus will soon end its flights from Shannon to Heathrow has caused considerable outrage and dismay in the mid-west. The concerns have been well rehearsed in your newspaper and on balance seem well-founded, even if some contributors have been prone to exaggeration. In addition, it should be noted that the commercial imperatives dictating the behaviour of Aer Lingus management should hardly have come as a surprise, so it is disappointing that few innovative alternatives were put in place to mitigate the consequences. In an ironic way, the current controversy might prove fruitful if it helps to put a clear focus on the fundamental need for balanced regional growth, which is a core part of national policy.
All Irish regions participated in the employment boom of the "Celtic Tiger" years and expanded quite rapidly. Nonetheless, the seemingly disproportionate response to the cancellation of three daily flights to Heathrow Airport may be more understandable if we peruse just a snippet of the latest available CSO data.
Between 1988 and 2005 the regions' shares of total employment remained quite stable, but the mid-west performed the worst of all regions with the biggest relative share loss of 6.7 per cent. For the period 1997-2003, output per worker measured by gross value added (GVA) shows that the relative position of the mid-west region declined from 92.2 per cent to 88.2 per cent of the national level.
The broad message is that the mid-west's economic performance has been poor relative to other regions, even if we exclude Dublin. The absence of any significant foreign direct investment (FDI) in the region over the past six years is embedded in the above data. The dearth of FDI reflects the fact that the overall business environment is not as attractive as it could be.
The current controversy is a reflection of more fundamental issues. While most regions performed well during the boom, we also have evidence that regional differentials widened during the depressed years of the 1980s. In the current economic environment it is timely to ponder how the regions will fare during less prosperous times. It strikes me that we need good policy and action on regional development that delivers tangible results, rather than the mis-match of outcomes that have happened to date. Let us hope the current controversy can be used to stimulate more inspired thinking and action for the Mid-West and other under-performing regions. - Yours, etc,
Prof JIM DEEGAN,
Director, National Centre
for Tourism Policy Studies,
Department of Economics,
University of Limerick.
Madam, - First they came for our telephones, then they came for our hospitals and nursing homes, and now they are coming for our air services. Is this what the Greens bought into? Is this what being a republic is all about, an ever-congealing greasy till? - Yours, etc,
PAUL MURRAY,
Templeville Drive,
Dublin 6.