Cullen in Aer Lingus pledge
Aer Lingus will soon get a clear future strategy with guaranteed funding for the first time instead of the “never-ending uncertainty” and crisis management of the past, Minister for Transport Martin Cullen said today.
Speaking at the Irish Management Institute conference, Mr Cullen said he will be bringing proposals to Cabinet in coming weeks to create an efficient and modern aviation sector in the country.
These plans include the future financing of the State airline, a second terminal at Dublin Airport, expansion into the US market and increased support for Shannon and Cork airports.
He said: “For too long, there has been a short-term approach with our national airline. Crisis plans rather than expansion plans were the norm. But short-term planning won’t work anymore. It has served absolutely no-one.
“A sense of never-ending uncertainty was bad for the staff, the public and the country as a whole. I and the Government are determined that, for the first time there will be investment for growth rather than just short-term funding for restructuring or to help in a time of crisis. ”
Mr Cullen, who was speaking at the Wicklow conference on the theme, Infrastructure: Private or State-owned, said he was also working to achieve increased access for Irish airines to the North American marketplace.
He added: “We remain firmly committed to supporting Shannon and Cork airports and I believe that they will become an ever more important part of both our national and regional transport infrastructure.
“The proposals, taken and implemented together, will give the sector a clear strategic direction and an unambiguous mandate for growth. The net result will be a stronger aviation sector and a stronger economy.”
Mr Cullen said the underinvestment of the past would be solved by the “largest and most sustained programme of infrastructural investment in our history”.
On the issue of general transport infrastructure, Mr Cullen said the introduction of five-year capital envelopes would help plan for the future.
“The objective is to achieve a high quality transport system in tune with the economic and social needs not of today but of the decades ahead. Specific projects, which are necessary if that vision is to be delivered, will be identified.
“In the next few years there will be a further increase in the development and modernisation of our transport infrastructure at all levels.
“I believe that there is a definite and lasting national interest to ensuring we have a top-class transport infrastructure.
“Solutions that make Ireland a better place to work, solutions that make Ireland a better place to live and solutions that make Ireland a better place to do business.”
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