SHANNON AIRPORT is to receive further financial support under the Regional Airports Programme this year, a Junior Minister in the Department of Transport has confirmed.
A total of €23.6m was allocated to Shannon Airport last year in comparison with €97.2m for Dublin Airport and €25.1m for Cork Airport. The Regional Airports Programme is set to continue until 2025 with Minister of State at the Department of Transport with special responsibility for International and Road Transport and Logistics, Hildegarde Naughton (FG) guaranteeing Shannon’s inclusion once again for 2022.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, she outlined that Government funding has been used to aid Shannon Group in targeting airlines and opening up connectivity. She believed the Heathrow hub at Shannon would continue to develop and acknowledged its importance as an international hub for the country in a business, tourism and heritage sense.
She believed the message needed to go out internationally for passengers to avail of Shannon Airport rather than Cork or Dublin to assist balanced regional development. “From the very outset of the pandemic what I wanted to do first of all when there was no flights and nobody was flying globally was to ensure the Airport itself was in a position to rebound so we funded the Airports. As we reopen, what I’m doing is allocating funding to all of our Airports and in particular Shannon so they can directly work and negotiate with airlines and to market this region. It is not just tourism, it is business and ensuring we have balanced regional development so not everyone has to go to Dublin or Cork to fly out.
Naughton continued, “The return of transatlantic flights is symbolic to say the Mid-West region is open, we can have these services and we want to grow. The funding we provided was again to enable Shannon to do what it does best, it is a commercial entity at the end of the day and it needs to be sustainable and market itself, that’s what this funding is doing and it is testament to the Group that they have delivered on that, we will be continuing to work with Shannon Airport and the region so that it does thrive and develop, we’re coming out of the pandemic so it is a new vista in how business people are going to interact and their travel movements, this is a moving target and we’re working with all of the groups and airports to ensure Ireland has that connectivity”.
A native of Galway, the Junior Minister was well aware of Shannon’s importance to the region, she said. “We need to ensure we have that international connectivity in Shannon, it has come under the Regional Airports Programme and it will again this year, I’ll be announcing further funding under that and Shannon Airport will form part of that, you can be assured I will continue to engage with the Airport, I know a lot of work is happening with local Chambers of Commerce and tourism boards around attracting people and encouraging passengers to use Shannon Airport, that is all part of it, Government can give funding but it is up to Shannon Group and local stakeholders to work and they have done so effectively. I will be continuing to work with Shannon Airport and the Mid-West stakeholders to see what can be done to further improve and develop the region”.
Ongoing use of Shannon Airport by the US military has been labelled as marking Ireland’s involvement in “forever wars”. When the question was put to Ms Naughton that shifting some flights from Dublin to Shannon would lessen the Airport’s reliance on the US military for activity and financial aid, a senior member of staff at Shannon Airport moved swiftly to make an interruption. Before she was pulled away, the former primary school teacher said in response, “I think it’s important to say that we’re a neutral country, we will help Ukraine as we have demonstrated through our EU partners in anyway possible through other supports and funding and doing that at a European level, we’re not politically neutral, we are there and we see the crisis, we see the refugees coming through and we will do whatever it takes”.
