Sir, – Anne-Marie Keane (Letters, December 21st) makes an impassioned plea for Aer Lingus to reinstate services as the company "owe us taxpayers".
While I agree that Shannon plays a major role in sustaining tourism along the western seaboard and the significant foreign direct investment in the same area, her plea is misguided.
The situation remains that Aer Lingus, in the absence of any assistance from the Government, must do what it can to ensure its own survival.
Aviation in Ireland has effectively been in Level 5 lockdown continuously since March of this year. We have had a comprehensive report from the Aviation Recovery Taskforce in July – whose recommendations continue to gather dust – along with the Focus on Aviation report from the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation in August, whose stark warnings remain unheeded.
Coupled with the recent report of the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications Networks, the issue of pulling on the “green jersey” clearly is one for Government.
Some 140,000 jobs and over €16 billion worth of GDP is associated with the aviation industry in Ireland yet no structural support has been put in place. The July stimulus plan from the Department of Transport makes no reference whatsoever to either airports or airlines. The silence is deafening.
There has been limited financial assistance since then for the regional airports across the country.
What is the point of all this if there is nobody left to fly the routes?
Rather than blaming Aer Lingus for running its business, the question is why does this Government continue to refuse to help any indigenous airline by either direct structural support or creating a PSO-type (public service obligation) arrangement for routes that are key to maintaining connectivity and, in doing so, the countrywide economy?
The benefits are obvious, not least to those workers whose livelihoods depend on it. – Yours, etc,
JOE MAY,
Dundalk,
Co Louth.