Government ‘united on flight cut’

The Government will not be split over Aer Lingus’s controversial decision to end its valuable Shannon-Heathrow service, Transport Minister Noel Dempsey has said.

Even though his Cabinet colleague, Defence Minister Willie O’Dea, initially insisted the cutback was wrong and should be reversed, Mr Dempsey said Fianna Fail deputies were united.

Fine Gael have vowed to call a Dail motion on the issue but Mr Dempsey insisted Government TDs would vote as one if a Dail motion was tabled on the controversy. “The Government has made its displeasure and disappointment known with Aer Lingus. We don’t regard it as being in line with Government policy in regional terms or aviation terms,” he said. “But I would not expect any Deputies or Senators in that region to be voting against or abstaining in relation to this matter.”