I'm sorry; reading it back, it was a bit cruel, BUT what I was trying to get across was that for years, Dublin wanted a break, but at every step, there was bleating, gnashing of teeth and of course, thinly veiled threats to the invertebrate holders of the transport portfolio of electoral disaster if the government didn't say "how high" when the Shannon lobby shouted "jump". I really have a lot less respect for the successive governments and their complete lack of vision than the SNN lobby which, however ruthless they were, were protecting what they saw as their patch.
Dublin never wanted to destroy SNN and despite what I said, neither do I. I want to see SNN grow and develop, but the way to do that is not - and never was - to hold Dublin back; it was always more about what DUB had than what SNN needed, more dog in the manger than anything else and it's for that reason and aimed more towards the more inflexible (of which there were very many) SIGNAL type lobbyist, that my comment was aimed. I'm sorry if I caused offence, but if there's one thing that really bothered me about the SNN issue, it was the casual attitude with which growth opportunities were squandered.
(Incidentally, I am Irish, from Dublin originally and still, obviously, very much in touch with the old country!)
Incidentally, just picked this up from RTE\'s Aertel:
Negotiations for an \'open skies\'
airline pact with the US will not be
completed in time for the EU-US summit
in Ireland this weekend.
This is according to EU Transport
Commissioner Loyola de Palacio.
In the words of Capt. Blackadder, "I think the phrase rhymes with Clucking Bell".
