First, I welcome the Minister, Deputy Kenneally to the House whom I have not met. I am disappointed that the Minister, Deputy Geoghegan-Quinn, is not here to complete the triumvirate of women with a consensual approach towards the retention of the Shannon status.
I am grateful that time has been allowed for this issue in advance of the decision promised by the Minister, Deputy Geoghegan-Quinn, on the long running debate over direct US flights into Dublin and the continued designation of Shannon Airport as the transatlantic gateway to this country. The tug of war over flights from America has gone on for a long time, yet we have seen some benefit from the fact that the controversy has continued. For Shannon one of the most gratifying results is that the new Minister for Tourism, Transport and Communications, Deputy Geoghegan-Quinn, has recognised and acknowledged that the uncertainty about Shannon caused by the demands of the Dublin lobby has hit investment and morale in the Shannon region and beyond. It took a long time for people outside the Shannon region to understand the damage that was being done and that if damage was being done to Shannon, it was being done to Ireland in tourism promotion and in generation of industrial and business investment.
Another positive by product of this long debate was quickly identified by the Minister when she acknowledged at Shannon that many myths had been exploded during her briefing there by the Shannon status and signal groups. In the past six months we have seen what this row is all about. First, we were led to believe the demands for flights into Dublin were about tourism and getting more United States visitors into the country. We were told that it was all about getting new carriers to operate into Ireland, as if they were some gigantic queue of America's most bankrupt airlines waiting to get rights into what is essentially a seasonal destination.
Then, despite persistent promptings from the Dublin lobby and its allies and overseas trips geared to round-up prospective operators, the only carrier that came forward with any proposal to operate into Dublin was Delta Airlines — not a new carrier but one already operating into Ireland. It proposed to come on direct routing into Dublin from New York on the prime route of Aer Lingus, to compete with the Irish airline which has been pleading that it cannot survive on the Atlantic route without cutting back on its costs. Where would Aer Lingus be against an operation like Delta which can offer free flights anywhere in North America to anyone who will buy a return ticket from Detroit to Gatwick until the 15th of this month?
Finally, it became clear Aer Lingus came out of the clouds which had been whipped up by the Dublin lobby. Suddenly the Shannon stop was not about tourism, not about getting more visitors into the country, or getting more airlines to serve Ireland. It was all about the capacity of Aer Lingus to manage and to find solutions to its own problems. It turns out that Aer Lingus is so obsessed with finding a short route through its problems that it is prepared to sacrifice Shannon Airport and its gateway in the interests of sticking with the course it has charted. Aer Lingus is arguing that its survival depends on by-passing Shannon, but the price Aer Lingus is asking is the future of the West. What Aer Lingus is pushing for must be resisted because it is bad for Ireland, bad for business and, most of all, it is bad for jobs and job creation.
Over the past 20 years the finest job creation record has been in the Shannon region, thanks largely to the back-bone of quality overseas investment attracted by Shannon airport and its services and the programmes which have cultivated new crops of native enterprises. Since the start of the seventies, industrial employment in the Shannon region has increased by 5,000. With the hindsight of recent reports, we all know how much that is worth, not only to the Shannon region but to the entire country. Firms flourish in the Shannon region. They grow and they put down roots. At a time when other parties in the Oireachtas are absolutely at one with the social partners in making unemployment the number one task on the national agenda for action, any move to diminish or downgrade Shannon would be not only counter productive but almost suicidal. It reminds me of the act of Saddam Hussein setting fire to the oilfiels of Saudi Arabia, wanton destruction of the most important resource and support to economic activity.
You do not have to take it from me that Shannon Airport and its gateway stands as a cornerstone of the national economy. I am biased in favour of Shannon, but there are others who fully appreciate just how valuable Shannon is to this country, and especially to our futures. Commissioner Bruce Millan, the EC Commissioner for Regional Affairs, he went on record last month and stated that he would not like to see the major EC investment in Shannon jeopardised. He also stated that what has being going on around Shannon Airport was what he called proper regional development.
The John Hume report prepared for the European Parliament in 1987 looked at Ireland's regional problems. It strongly urged that development and build-up of population and activity should be shifted away from Dublin. That same report highlighted the Shannon region as a model of balanced regional development.
More recently the Culliton report review of industrial policy mapped out the way ahead for the critical task of job creation, and put the spotlight on the special approaches which have been taken in the Shannon region which once again were seen to be ahead of the rest in taking steps to make things right for the country. The Culliton report, which we will be debating next week, highlighted special resources and attributes which should be the base for building new industry, enterprise and secure jobs, and there were quality infrastucture, development of clusters of specialist industry such as aerospace, development of indigenous industry, good access with airports and other facilities and development of freighting traffic and regional structures. If you were to take all these together, these resources and strengths are an identikit picture, to my mind, of the Shannon region.
While we are debating and talking about other aspects of the Maastricht Agreement thees days, it is important to stress that the entire Maastricht Agreement has as its overriding principle social and economic cohesion. The Single European Market aims for social and economic cohesion from the new Europe but also from each member state. This is also one of the guiding principles of the recent Fine Gael policy on regionalisation which again takes the structures, strategies and the success of the Shannon regions the model of what can be achieved throughout the country for the good of the country.
I am glad the Shannon gateway debate has gone on until this time because Shannon came under heavy attack last year. When US tourism to all parts of the world was in decline, Shannon was singled out by vested interests here and blamed for what was caused by the Gulf War and deep recession in the United States. I am glad to tell this House that there is a great improvement in the number of American tourists coming to Ireland this year. I am delighted to say that bookings into Bunratty and other castle banquets are already up by 40 per cent on the same time last year, and things are looking better by the day. This recovery is taking place in what is traditionally a slow year for American tourism.
We know the people of the United States do not tend to travel as widely in an Olympic year or a presidential year, and both have coincided this year. There is also the continuing recession in the United States. If US tourism was falling off this year, those factors would not be blamed in quarters that are all too predictable. In those same quarters let there be no suggestion that the American visitors are coming back to Ireland for any reason other than what we all know. Americans like the west. They like what it has to offer, which is peace, tranquility, a pure environment and lavish outdoor natural resources and amenities.
Let us get another thing straight at this time as the figures for US tourism in Ireland are climbing again. This year the capacity being offered on the North Atlantic by Aer Lingus is down on what was offered in 1990, which was the last good year of our drive for increased tourism and the jobs which flow from the industry. It is admitted that Aer Lingus capacity from New York and Boston is certainly up on last year, but 1991 was a slump year for American travel. Compared with 1990 Aer Lingus seats available on the Atlantic are down by almost 13 per cent this year, but Delta have stepped up its seat capacity by over 30 per cent out of Atlanta.
Aer Lingus has also pleaded during this campaign against Shannon that it wants to get on with the job of building up transatlantic business out of the UK and to become a hub between the US and Europe. What Aer Lingus has not said is that it was offered a chance of doing just that ten years ago and was offered payment to do so. In the early eighties, Shannon Development offered £140,000 in support funding to Aer Lingus for development of a Manchester to Shannon service. That opportunity and finance which would be worth some £250,000 today was spurned, yet today Aer Lingus is spending and losing millions on its European operations, which includes its efforts to develop Manchester as source of transatlantic business. Aer Lingus turned down the chance of setting up a service from Manchester to Shannon which, had it been established, would now be chanelling UK passengers to Shannon, where the only US emigration pre-clearance station in Europe would help to sell the service by helping to cut up to two hours off waiting times in United States airports on arrival. Aer Lingus did not recognise that opportunity, just as it continues to scorn the prospect of getting involved in a hub operation at Shannon, which could not only secure the future of Shannon but also provide the network of service into Europe from Shannon which would add new vitality to the lifeline which Shannon is to the west.
I am glad of the opportunity to day to raise this matter and I am glad Senator Honan got ten minutes to speak. I know that Senator Howard, who has fought hard in the past number of years, and Senator Foley and others, would have liked some time but, unfortunately, there is such a demand to speak on the retention of the status of Shannon, that we would need a full day's debate.
In Limerick on 11 April there will be people on the streets marching peacefully but rallying in support of employment in the area and an overwhelming wish to retain the status of Shannon. I hope the Minister of State will convey to the Minister, Deputy Geoghegan-Quinn, our extreme concern that the status of Shannon should be retained.
