Political reaction: The Government has reiterated its determination not to intervene in the ongoing row over the termination of the Aer Lingus service from Shannon to Heathrow despite demands for action by Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea and a range of Fianna Fáil politicians in the midwest region.
A spokeswoman for Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey said that he stood over his comment that the potential impact on the region had been exaggerated, despite claims by Mr O'Dea that he had been wrongly advised on the matter.
Last night Fine Gael maintained that the Government was in complete disarray on the issue while the Labour Party accused Mr O'Dea of trying to rewrite history on the privatisation of Aer Lingus.
After a day of further intense debate on the issue during which Mr O'Dea, Minister of State Tony Killeen and a range of Fianna Fáil politicians in the region again called for a reversal of the Aer Lingus decision, Government policy was formally enunciated by the Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin.
She said that the decision to privatise Aer Lingus had been taken in 2005 to enable the airline to grow and compete effectively in a highly-competitive market.
"As a listed plc, Aer Lingus has to take it own decisions. It is inappropriate for the Government to intervene in the decision-making of a private company. To do so would ultimately be damaging to the company and its customers," the Minister said in a statement on behalf of the Government.
She said that Ireland had been well served by the open competition between airlines in a fully-liberalised environment. Fares had fallen over the years as a result of increased competition, with the travelling public enjoying a broad range of air services to the UK, Europe and beyond from all three main airports in the State.
However, the Minister reiterated the Government's unhappiness at the Aer Lingus decision. "The Government is particularly disappointed with the recent decision of Aer Lingus, given the company's long commitment to the midwest region. We remain committed to ensuring the connectivity of Shannon and we will continue to promote the business and tourism interests of the midwest through targeted investment in education, infrastructure, industry and tourism promotion."
The contrast between the Government's position and comments by Mr O'Dea and a wide range of Fianna Fáil public representatives from the region was highlighted by Limerick East Fine Gael TD Kieran O'Donnell.
"The Cabinet is completely at sea on Shannon, with Ministers giving opposing statements and nobody taking responsibility for this crisis," he said, adding that Ms Hanafin's remarks had exposed the rift.
"It is clear that the Minister is standing full-square behind the Aer Lingus board decision to pull the plug on the Shannon-Heathrow route. She also stated that she is confident Shannon will find alternative routes, but this flies in the face of Willie O'Dea's attack on Noel Dempsey when he claimed the new Transport Minister has not been fully briefed," Mr O'Donnell said.
"With each passing hour the Cabinet falls further and further into disarray and the result is that nobody is taking charge and the people of the midwest are left with a Government dodging responsibility and a still abandoned Heathrow route.
"Willie O'Dea is also raising more questions than he is answering with his posturing and idle threats on national radio."
Labour's deputy leader, Liz McManus, accused Mr O'Dea of attempting to rewrite recent political history by claiming that the Government had no alternative but to proceed with the privatisation of Aer Lingus because it was legally precluded from putting more investment into the company.
"There was no obstacle to the Government providing the further investment that Aer Lingus needed, a fact confirmed by the European Commission at the time. State investment was rejected purely on ideological grounds," she said.
