This time no one can blame the Government jet. Technical hitches with an Aer Lingus flight caused the Minister for Communications, the Marine and Natural Resources to miss a key EU meeting in Brussels yesterday.
The Minister, Mr Ahern, was due to hold talks with the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Commissioner, Dr Franz Fischler, on the Irish Box and other fishery-related matters. However, after several postponements of the scheduled Aer Lingus flight to Brussels, the meeting had to be abandoned.
The flight had been due to take off at 11.45 a.m., and the Minister's meeting was set for 3.30 p.m. Brussels time. However, passengers were informed that departure had been delayed.
"It was put back to about 1.30 p.m. and the Minister boarded," a spokesman for Mr Ahern said. At this point, Mr Fischler had been made aware of the setback. However, when the flight had not taken off by 2 p.m., the passengers were then informed that they had to transfer planes. "Apparently the toilets weren't working and the pilot wouldn't fly," the Minister's spokesman said.
Dr Fischler's office was contacted again but he had a commitment at 6 p.m. The Minister had to abandon his plans to travel.
A spokeswoman for Aer Lingus said the flight had been delayed by three hours and 10 minutes. The aircraft due to fly the route was held for routine checks, and a standby plane arrived back late from Manchester. Passengers were boarded very quickly on the standby, and it then emerged that the toilets were not operating.
This is the second time that flight hitches have thwarted Mr Ahern's attempts to hold talks in Brussels. A technical fault with the Government jet resulted in his delayed arrival for the Fisheries Council in December when the Irish Box and the controversial days-at-sea restrictions for north-west fishing vessels were on the agenda.
Meanwhile, north-west fishing industry representatives are angry that a promised meeting with the Taoiseach on the days-at-sea restrictions has not materialised.
The restrictions will have serious implications for the Inishowen port of Greencastle, and on smaller vessels which will be tied up for all but nine days per month.
Larger vessels can opt to move south out of Area VI, where the restrictions apply. However, this is at a cost to jobs ashore, according to the industry.
