Green Party Statement 16 May 2006 Green Party proposes solution to East-West aviation problems at Councillors think-tank A national think-tank last weekend was attended by Green Party councillors from Louth, Dublin, Carlow, Cork, Kildare, Wicklow, Clare and Galway as well as Party Leader Trevor Sargent TD. The think-tank has come up with an innovative proposal for solving two of Ireland's major aviation problems, by pointing out that a new runway for Dublin Airport in fact already exists at Shannon Airport. The Party is concerned at the over-reliance of Shannon Airport on aircraft heading to the Iraq war. Cllr Brian Meaney (Clare County Council) said: "We should be taking a positive approach to promoting the use of Shannon for civil purposes instead of building a new runway at Dublin airport." Cllr Niall Ó Brolcháin (Galway City Council) proposed a fast rail link directly from Galway city to Shannon Airport with a checkout desk at Ceannt Station in Galway. He stated that, "there is no point in people travelling from Galway to Dublin Airport when Shannon is so much closer." Cllrs Meaney and Ó Brolcháin intend to participate in the Oral Hearing into the proposed new runway at Dublin Airport in order to promote real decentralisation from Dublin to the west of Ireland. Many other issues were also discussed at the think-tank weekend, including electoral strategy, the format of possible negotiations for Government and various nationally focused local issues. Cllr Caroline Burrell (Bray Town Council) has been selected as the Convenor of the Group and Cllr Dominick Donnelly (Passage West Town Council) from Cork has been selected as the Vice Convenor. Information
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