The economic futures of families across the midwest region are dependent upon the fate of Shannon Airport. The future of the airport is, once more, a key election issue, writes Éibhir Mulqueen, Midwest Correspondent
It has been said that everybody in the Shannon region takes a proprietorial interest in its international airport and campaigning politicians are keenly aware of this when knocking on doors.
Recognised as the economic cornerstone of the region, the airport's status in terms of votes means Fianna Fáil will continue to buoy up traffic there through its continued backing of the Shannon one-for-one stopover, whereby 50 per cent of all transatlantic traffic must land there.
Flanked by the Clare Fianna Fáil TD and Minister, Ms Síle de Valera, at the airport last week, the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, endorsed the continuance of the scheme in the face of ongoing European and American pressure for an open skies policy. Justifying this stance within EU aviation policy, she remarked that other member-states had "pet projects" too.
This project could be self-defeating nationally. The president of the US Tour Operators Association, Mr Bob Whitley, said recently that the stopover would lead to Delta Airlines pulling out of the State altogether by the end of the summer, a comment which Delta disowned but which points to the unhappiness airlines feel at the arrangement.
Ms O'Rourke also stated that a new Fianna Fáil-led government would restructure Aer Rianta, the State airport management company, creating a sub-board at Shannon and, more than likely, at Cork. This is in response to increased pressure from business leaders and locally-based politicians, who have clamoured for more local input into setting the airport's strategy.
This airport-friendly strategy is in contrast to the decision by a Fianna Fáil-led government in July 1993 to end the compulsory stopover at Shannon for every transatlantic plane. It was a policy change which prompted Mr Tony Killeen to vote against the Government on the issue and to resign the party whip along with his colleague, Ms de Valera.
In the revolt which ensued, 17 county councillors also resigned the whip, and Clare party members boycotted the ard-fheis.
In contrast, last week's pre-election promise may help Fianna Fáil maintain its grip in Clare, where Ms de Valera, Mr Killeen and Mr Brendan Daly hold three of the four seats, with Fine Gael's Mr Donal Carey holding the fourth. It may also placate some of the estimated 67 per cent of voters who expressed degrees of dissatisfaction with Government handling of the airport, according to a TG4/MRBI poll in January. The poll found that 97 per cent of voters endorsed the airport's importance within the region's economy.
Mr Killeen says that the new arrangement has served the region well, merely taking transit passengers out of Shannon while quelling the "Dublin lobby". He has spent the intervening years since 1993 "in exile" even though voters remember him for his action. "I think, if I am re-elected, I should have served my purgatory."
The voters will weigh up the options; but, with Fianna Fáil's airport cards on the table, Fine Gael will have a difficult task regaining the second seat last held in Clare 10 years ago.