Photos from SOS Rally
The “Save Our Slots” rally was on in Limerick yesterday - to sum up; Willie O’Dea (FF) didn’t have the balls to show up, John Cregan (FF) was booed off the stage and Timmy Dooley (FF) was hiding in the crowd. Kieran O’Donnell (FG), Jan O’Sullivan (LAB), councillors, trade union reps and personalities such as Peter Clohessy and Celia Holmen Lee
others have written well about it:
Limerick Blogger: Shannon-Heathrow: Cregan booed off podium at rally
[Video] Save Our Slots Rally
Braz in IrishElection: FF scapegoat takes hit on podium, others hide, and some avoid
Dan Sullivan: Too scared to take the stand
RTE: http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/1020/shannon.html
Ireland.com: http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2007/1020/breaking18.htm
John Cregan (FF) being booed off stage:
October 21st, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Just to be contrary, who said they were ‘your’ slots? Does this mean , as somebody based in the Dublin-Belfast corridor that I can sell ‘my; slot to the good people of the west who seem to want it more than I do?
And yes, by way of a (half) apology, I do link back to Limerick based bloggers whenever I talk about Dublin Airport …
October 21st, 2007 at 10:21 pm
The campaign slogan is “Save Our Slots” - not my own words.
My take on it is this: the slots were bought by the governement when it was only owned by the state. The state wishes to keep the Heathrow slots for airports in Ireland as it is in our strategic interest.
The slots used for Shannon could have left the island altoghether if Birmingham was chosen ahead of Belfast. According to Shannon campaigners, the Belfast route isn’t selling well at all so the slots may still be moved elsewhere.
As regards why Shannon would be more deserving that Belfast - it is part of the government’s region development policy. This was pointed out to Dermot Mannion on June 13th by the Dept of Transport.
Now: imagine this - the economy sinks, unemployment rockets, Aer Lingus and BMU think it is more profitable to move all the slots to UK, Middle Eastern and US bases. How will you get to your clients in London or South Africa?
October 22nd, 2007 at 5:01 pm
This is something that the opposition parties should be doing much more about. The fiasco that is the loss of state assets by privatising state companies. First it was Eircom, now we have nearly the worst broadband in Europe (while a state run service may be no better at least we could do something about it, now its outside our hands). Then it was Aer Lingus with the loss of control of heathrow slots. The designation of two useless directors, I say useless cause they have no influence on anything, by muppet dempsey highlights the further idiotic management of the shannon affair. The next victim will the privatisation of the ESB. We will probably end up losing access to our bogs, access to our lakes and so on, once the state company goes into private hands. When will the stupidity stop? While some would argue that we voted the current muppets in, sadly I do not see anyone else who would do a better job.
October 22nd, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Privatisation itself is not a bad idea - it just has to be done well. This government seems to have messed up almost every privatisation to date*
Broadband speeds and penetration is better in other markets because of good regulation. BT, France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom and most other telcos are in private hands.
Secondly - the government was warned of this possibility during the privatisation. They failed to
a) appoint their directors
b) do anything in June when they knew of the plan
c) do anything when the public knew of the plan in August
d) do anything when Ryanair offered an EGM
To say that they were caught unaware is simply a smokescreen. To say that they can’t do anything is also one. The board of directors can direct management to move slots to Shannon. If there is a problem, an EGM can be convened. The excuses simply don’t stand up to scruity.
* I won’t count Eircell as a failure though. Then again, it had to compete with o2 which got into the market through a license-issue by the FG/Lab/DL govt. To date, that decision has stood up to intense scrutiny.
October 25th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Joe surely you mean license Scandal!!! not issue?
October 25th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
that’s wishful thinking! From what I’ve seen and heard, the license was issued fairly
October 26th, 2007 at 10:19 am
By someone who can be described as a crook….
October 26th, 2007 at 10:24 am
And who is now a member of Government with Fianna Fail, Greens, PDs and other independents?
October 26th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
birds of a feather and all that…
I suppose it just goes to show that all the parties are as bad as each other.
October 27th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
To put all parties into the same pot is a lazy generalisation and unproductive.
Granted, I half-expected Fine Gael to do a deal with the Independents to form a government out of necessity but I doubt he’d be welcomed back into the party or given a junior ministry.