*Cathal Crowe at the Shannon Heritage Workers Protest at Bunratty Folk Park. Photograph: Natasha Barton
A CLARE TD has insisted he “didn’t get it wrong” on the transfer of the Shannon Heritage sites despite promising “a good deal for workers” before Christmas which later transpired as the Government offering Clare County Council a sixth of the total sum sought.
On December 19th, Cathal Crowe TD (FF) announced that a funding package to allow the transfer to proceed was imminent. “It took long enough but a good deal for workers and for the tourism offering at iconic sites like Bunratty Castle is now imminent,” he stated, ten days after the Council withdrew their interest, citing the absence of adequate financial backing.
Two months on from his announcement, Deputy Crowe defended his remarks. “I didn’t get it wrong, I was disappointed that some political representatives tried to put it as such”.
He referenced the Government’s decision in the summer of 2021 to separate the Shannon Heritage sites from the Shannon Airport Group which resulted in fifteen months of “over and back discussions”. On the day of Leo Varadkar’s (FG) election as Taoiseach, Crowe said it was “the first time I heard with absolute certainty that the Government was committed to funding this”.
Crowe continued, “I heard unequivocally on that day Government was committed to funding Shannon Group, than an announcement was imminent and that it would be communicated to Clare County Council”.
That the funding was only one sixth of the €15m sought by the Council following a due diligence report suggested the Meelick native was misinformed. “I wasn’t led the wrong path and I wouldn’t want that to be suggested,” he responded. “There was initial confusion was that a multi-annual funding offer or a one-off funding offer. I’ve gone back several times to the Government and the Council, the Government have said they are open to the Council applying for that fund each year, making it multi-annual, however with the public purse you cannot commit to a multi-annual fund because you are locked into a budget”.
Deputy Crowe stressed that the Shannon Heritage workers have not been critical of this setback. “I have spoken with all the Shannon Heritage workers, you can see it on my social media when I clarified matters, not one of them have berated me, the only people that tried to make hay out of this were other politicians who tried to misconstrue matters entirely, I would say shame on them because I have been from the get go absolutely clear with the workers, my communications have been absolutely clear and my intent to represent them and ensure they get a good deal has been unwavering. I think each time you’ve been out at a protest I’ve been the only Oireachtas representative there, I will go morning, noon and night to represent them and I will take any flak coming my way but I won’t be found wanting in terms of representing them and that applies in the past and going forward now”.
That his announcement offered what became false hope to workers right on the approach to Christmas did not alter his viewpoint. “I communicated the information I had to hand, it was appreciated by workers, it has been absolutely misrepresented by other politicians and deliberately so. The fact is it was a significant piece of news I heard that day, it was the first time in fifteen months we heard anyone in Government say they were willing to fund and not only did I hear it from one Minister that day, I heard it from three Ministers, that was significant and worthy of communicating to workers, they appreciated it that day, the funding announcement came up short of what all of us would have wanted, some of that coming up short was also due to a degree of confusion, was it multi-annual funding or a one-off fund, now both parties are committed to wrapping this up once and for all, I heard as recently as last Wednesday that Minister Eamon Ryan has said there is a will to wrap this up. None of the workers have criticised me, the criticism has come from others in the political world, maybe they should have gone out and met workers rather than berating me for something I haven’t done”.
“There isn’t one worker who criticised me on this,” Crowe emphasised while repeating his comment that he didn’t regret making the announcement. “I have no say on the figures, the final settlement will be negotiated and thrashed out by the Minister and their team. I’ve never been privy to the whole figure, what was offered came up short, it was disappointingly short but I remain committed to getting it resolved and I’m confident it will be resolved, in fact there isn’t a single worker who has criticsed me, I’ve met with them in recent days”.
