“The Government cannot continue to turn its back on Shannon, it cannot walk away and abandon the Mid West and West” – this was stated by Marian Harkin M.E.P. in response to Minister Dempsey’s plan to appoint two new directors to the Aer Lingus Board.

She continued “Minister Dempsey has consistently said that the Government cannot intervene in the Aer Lingus decision to pull out of Shannon, yet he is now intervening and rightly so to prevent other Heathrow slots being taken out of Cork and Dublin.  In this context he must now take the necessary steps to restore Heathrow connectivity to Shannon.  Otherwise this will be a cynical abandonment of the region by the current Government”, Independent MEP Marian Harkin concluded.