SHANNON Chamber of Commerce has called on Transport Minister, Leo Varadkar to give the airport it’s independence as an early Christmas present. In its pre-budget submission, the chamber has called for the airport to be freed from the control of the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) by December.
The airport must be given a debt-free status and enough working capital as well as a slice of the profit from Aer Rianta International – which started life in Shannon. This funding should be used to develop the airport on an ongoing basis, the chamber’s submission states.
Chamber President, Damien Gleeson said that the “restrictions on Enterprise Ireland and the IDA operating in the Shannon Free Zone must also be lifted to give a new impetus to attracting investment to the area”.
The chamber has also called for local government reform as a means of reducing the burden of local authority charges on business.
The submission seeks a three per cent annual target for current spending reduction be set for all local authorities and that incentives be provided to local authorities to make further savings and drive greater efficiencies.
“Passing these efficiency savings on to commercial ratepayers by way of reduced local authority charges would demonstrate a real pro-business commitment by Government, ” said Mr Gleeson.
Commenting on the national finances, Mr Gleeson said that the Government must seek new ways of rationalising, streamlining and shrinking the size of the public sector.
“A structured approach to public sector business process outsourcing could reduce the size of the public sector by 30,000 and deliver savings of up to €1 billion over ten years, while a three-year pay pause on all increments, which increased the public sector pay bill by €250 million in 2011 alone, can be undertaken without breaching the Croke Park Agreement,” said Mr Gleeson.
