Church leaders in midwest criticise ending of route

Church leaders in the midwest yesterday put their weight behind the campaign to force Aer Lingus to reverse its decision to end the Shannon to London Heathrow service.

A strongly worded statement jointly issued by the Catholic Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh, the Catholic Bishop of Limerick, Donal Murray, and Church of Ireland Bishop of Limerick, Killaloe and Ardfert Michael Mayes, appealed "to the Government, the other shareholders and the board of Aer Lingus to take urgent steps to reverse this very damaging decision to abandon the Shannon-Heathrow flights".

The church leaders said they had a duty to point out that "public policy and the behaviour of private companies must have regard to moral obligations beyond merely commercial and short-term considerations".

The bishops added that they "share the dismay that the decision by Aer Lingus to abandon the Shannon-Heathrow flights has caused among its staff, its passengers, and the people of the area".

Describing the move as a serious blow to tourist and business enterprises in the region, the bishops said: "We welcome and strongly support the initiatives in recent days of local politicians, organisations and business interests in the region to address the decision to close off this major arterial air route from the mid-west region."

They stated: "This decision has implications beyond Aer Lingus and beyond this very unwelcome announcement about Shannon. We are particularly concerned that the Aer Lingus statement was a pragmatic commercial decision and appears to be offered as a complete and adequate justification.

"The ultimate purpose of the economy and of economic activity is not just to create profit; it is to make life more human for people. There is no area of life, including the economy, in which social responsibility may be ignored.

"Nor do we accept that shareholders should be presumed to have no interest other than the generation of profit at whatever cost to their fellow human beings. That is especially true when the shareholder in the company is the Government, which exists to foster the common good of its citizens.

"We cannot accept that managers and boards of companies may regard considerations such as the wellbeing of their staff, their obligations to their customers and their impact on the community and the wider world as matters of little relevance in serious decision making."

However, the bishops also said that they warmly welcomed the increase in activity at Belfast International Airport made possible by the new situation of peace on the island.