The executive chairman of the Shannon Airport Authority has resigned in a new twist in the row over Aer Lingus's decision to withdraw its Heathrow slots from the airport.
Pat Shanahan announced his resignation from the day-to-day running of the airport after a three-hour meeting of the board today.
It emerged this week that the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA), which is still responsible for the running of Shannon Airport, knew of the Aer Lingus decision at least six weeks before the news was made public and had not informed the Shannon authority.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Shanahan said: "My position became untenable because there's a conflict of interest between the DAA and ourselves, particularly in the fact that they...held this information from us for a period of six to eight weeks."
Mr Shanahan said this was "very critical, material information" that it needed as an airport.
"If we had known, we may have been able to do something about it," he added.
He will remain as non-executive chairman until the Shannon Airport Authority fully assumes responsibility for the running of the airport. The Aer Lingus move has caused a storm of protest across the Shannon and western region, with business and other interests establishing lobby groups in a bid to get the airline to change its mind.
They claim the retention of the Heathrow slots is crucial to maintaining connectivity between the region and, not only Britain, but the rest of the world served by flights out of the busy west London airport.
The Government, a shareholder in the airline, has insisted it will not intervene as it would be inappropriate for it to intervene in the commercial decisions of a private company.
Aer Lingus was floated on the Irish Stock Exchange in September of last year. Within weeks, rival airline Ryanair made a hostile bid to take it over.