We've just spent five days in Ireland, enjoying the charms of Galway and Kinsale.
We flew into Shannon airport in the West of Ireland, only to discover that the airport was at the heart of Ireland's biggest news story: Aer Lingus's decision to end flights from Shannon to London Heathrow. The story was the front page lead story throughout our visit, and judging by last night's RTÉ report is still dominating Ireland's news.
It was fascinating as an outsider - but fellow Celt - to see how the Irish media and bloggers were handling the story. The main angle, naturally, was the threat to the West's economy, and while we were in Ireland the media reported a stream of TDs (Irish members of parliament) and councillors condemning Aer Lingus's move. (See Irish Independent's report that Aer Lingus would not change its mind, and Limerick Blogger: Aer Lingus screws the west for a flavour.)
But the other key question was the role of the Irish government, which still holds a 25 percent stake in the former state airline. Ministers appeared slow to respond - many were on holiday - and only after a week did the Government rule out intervening as a shareholder to block the move. Defence Minister Willie O'Dea, who has been a lone voice in the Irish Cabinet actively opposing Aer Lingus's move, accused the airline of deliberately timing the announcement while the Cabinet were on holiday - see today's Irish Examiner story.
The Shannon story carries echoes of Britain's Westland affair of 1985/86 when Margaret Thatcher's Cabinet was at war over the future of the Westland helicopter business. Michael Heseltine was the Willie O'Dea of that saga, opposing his government's decision to favour an American rather than a European future for Westland. Heseltine famously walked out of the Cabinet as a result.
Much of the coverage of the Aer Lingus affair appears superficial: the classic reporting of angry reactions but little analysis of the issues underlying the story. (One honourable exception was Laura Noonan's business story on Saturday 11 August.) There was much questioning of Aer Lingus's right to switch its valuable Heathrow slots for Belfast rather than Shannon flights (see Kevin Myers in the Belfast Telegraph) but no one seems to have thought to ask aviation industry experts for their take on this complex subject. As a result, readers and viewers found it impossible to separate fact from polemic.
The one other aspect of the story that has been only lightly examined is that Aer Lingus is moving the flights to another state, the United Kingdom. This goes to the heart of north-south relations in the island of Ireland. It's hardly surprising that few in the Republic have raised this issue as to do so would underline the partition of Ireland at a time when north-south (and Ireland-UK) relations are better than at any time since 1922.
It's easy to think of the Shannon saga as a peculiarly Irish affair. But a very similar row would blow up in Britain if British Airways announced it was ending flights to, say, Aberdeen. It's about the classic clash between the interests of big business and a region; about what role governments should play in influencing business decisions. Shannon and the mid west of Ireland won't be the last region to wonder how best to protect themselves when a major business pulls out.
PS: we weren't impressed by the chaotic scenes at Shannon. Hundreds of people were called to their departure gates, which were all in a tiny corridor without anywhere to wait. The airport kept changing its mind about which flight went from which gate. Finally, the cafe in the departure lounge broke the rules by insisting on taking payment on our debit card in sterling rather than euro, pocketing an extra 3 percent or so of the cost. It would be good if some of the energy spent campaigning against Aer Lingus could go on improving Shannon...
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