Joe Costello
Question:66 Mr. Costello asked the Minister for Transport the position regarding plans to end the Shannon stopover; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27822/03]
Written Answers. - Regional Airports.
As I have indicated in answers to previous questions on this subject, following unanimous agreement by the Council of Transport Ministers on 5 June, to give the European Commission a mandate to negotiate an open aviation area agreement with the United States, the first round of formal detailed negotiations was held in Washington earlier last month. A second round of negotiations is due to take place in Brussels in December. During these negotiations, a special committee made up of all member states will assist the Commission. Ireland is represented on this committee by a senior official from my Department. It is unclear how long these negotiations will take.
In dealing with this issue, I must also take account of wider considerations, especially the opportunities for new business for Ireland currently not being exploited due to the limitation on the number of US destinations open to Irish airlines.
The recent report of the tourism policy review group to the Minister of Arts, Sport and Tourism recommends that my Department should immediately renegotiate the Ireland-US international air agreement in advance of an EU-US agreement in order to remove the present US gateways restriction.
Change in this area is inevitable. Officials in my department are in discussions with their US counterparts on the Ireland-US Bilateral. Officials are currently engaging, on my behalf, with the trade unions representing airport staff, and I will shortly be consulting the new board-designate of Shannon Airport. When these consultations are concluded, I will decide on the next steps.