Plan to grow Dublin Airport before Shannon ‘beggars belief’ says business group

PLANS to further expand Dublin Airport “beggar belief” when there is capacity in Shannon Airport, Limerick Chamber has said.

Bosses at the capital's airport are bidding to increase the numbers through the facility, potentially through the construction of a new runway.

However, Limerick Chamber, which is the biggest business representative body in the Mid-West, has called on government to step in and force the use of the capacity available in Shannon.

Chief executive Dee Ryan said: “It beggars belief that in 2023, when faced with stark regional disparities and housing pressures, the government has not taken National Aviation Policy by the scruff of the neck and reworked it to support delivery of jobs and housing in Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Clare and Galway.”

She said there are “obvious consequences” to the “overdevelopment” of Dublin Airport.

“It is time for government to take the matter in hand and deal with it. Yes - route connectivity is essential to the national economy and to sustain the businesses that we have. No - it does not all need to come through one airport.”

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Chamber has called on government to include all airports with under three million passengers yearly to be able to compete for State funding.

Up to 2020, Shannon Airport bosses were not able to do this.

It's worrying, Ms Ryan said, that following Britain's decision to leave the European Union (EU), Shannon Airport no longer has direct daily connectivity to a hub airport on the continent.

Having surveyed its members Limerick Chamber says it found a lack of EU hub service and poor public transport links are the two main inhibiting factors to businesses in the Mid-West using their local airport.

Chamber chief economist Sean Golden said: “Limerick Chamber has long been an advocate for using aviation policy as a tool for encouraging more balanced regional development. In 2019 we contracted Copenhagen Economics to undertake an aviation study of the Mid-West and West. Many of their recommendations and observations remain valid to this day, there is an over reliance on Dublin, there is large, underutilised capacity in regional airports, the need for an updated National Aviation Policy and of course, that state-owned regional airports, such as Shannon and Cork, should be included in the plan long-term.”

Regional airports, he added, have huge potential to help Ireland grow in the long-term.