Latest news with #MidWest
Travel Daily News
4 days ago
- Business
- Travel Daily News
Shannon Airport welcomes Ryanair's 4th based aircraft
Ryanair adds fourth aircraft at Shannon for Winter 2025/26, launching three new routes and boosting traffic by 20%, supporting 1,500+ local jobs. The Shannon Airport Group has welcomed Ryanair's announcement of the addition of a fourth based aircraft, three exciting new routes to Lapland, Madeira and Madrid, in addition to extra flights on six existing popular routes – Alicante, Edinburgh, Kraków, Lanzarote, Manchester, and Wrocław at Shannon Airport for Winter '25/'26. The announcement delivers 20% traffic growth, over 1.6m Ryanair passengers p.a. and offers customers in the Mid-West even more choice at Europe's lowest fares whilst also supporting over 1,500 local jobs. Welcoming the announcement, Mary Considine, CEO, The Shannon Airport Group said: 'We're delighted to welcome Ryanair's further expansion at Shannon Airport with the addition of a fourth based aircraft seeing three exciting new Winter '25 services from Shannon Airport to Madrid, Rovaniemi (Lapland), and Madeira, and increased frequencies on six existing routes. This expansion offers even greater choice for our passengers and strengthens Shannon's position as a key gateway to and from the West of Ireland. Ryanair's investment is a powerful endorsement of the potential of Shannon, a vote of confidence in the market here, and a testament to the progress we've made growing passenger numbers. We're very ambitious for the airport and the Group. We see a huge potential for growth and believe there is a real opportunity for Shannon Airport to lead the way in rebalancing the national landscape. A new aviation policy that recognises and supports the strategic importance of Shannon Airport to the country's economy is now required.' Ryanair's CCO, Jason McGuinness said: 'We are delighted to celebrate another milestone for our Shannon base this Winter as the Airport welcomes a 4th Ryanair based aircraft. This new 'Gamechanger' aircraft will deliver 100,000 (+20%) additional passengers and 3 new routes to Lapland, Madeira, and Madrid. In addition to these exciting new routes, Ryanair will also add extra flights on 6 popular Shannon routes – Alicante, Edinburgh, Kraków, Lanzarote, Manchester, and Wrocław. Ryanair's US$400m investment in the mid-west underpins our commitment to growing Ireland's regional airports evidenced by the 20 routes and more than 1.6m passengers we will deliver to Shannon Airport this year – driving inbound tourism to the region and supporting year-round international connectivity. Ryanair wants to continue to prioritise Shannon, Knock and Kerry for growth, however, the Irish Govt. needs to support these regional airports by expanding the scope of the Regional Airports Programme 2026-30 to at least 3m passenger p.a., which would allow regional airports to grow traffic without being penalised for doing so.' To celebrate Ryanair's fourth aircraft and 3 new routes at Shannon this Winter, the airline has launched a 2-day seat sale available only at Ryanair, Europe and Ireland's No.1 airline, Shannon Winter 25/26 schedule will deliver: 1 new 'Gamechanger' aircraft (4 aircraft in total) US$400m investment in Shannon 100,000 additional passengers (+20%) 20 routes, incl. new Lapland, Madeira & Madrid Increased freq. on 6 routes – Alicante, Edinburgh, Kraków, Lanzarote, Manchester & Wrocław Over 1,500 local jobs, incl. 350 highly paid pilot, cabin crew and engineer jobs Shannon traffic grows to over 1.6m passengers p.a.
Irish Times
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
James Browne broke Dáil rules when refusing to release housing data, Ceann Comhairle finds
Ceann Comhairle Verona Murphy has found that Minister for Housing James Browne failed to comply with Dáil rules when refusing to release data on social and affordable housing schemes. Ms Murphy was responding to a complaint by Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin , who had written to her asking to examine responses to parliamentary questions he put down but argued had not been properly answered. The Dublin Mid-West TD had sought data on five different social and affordable programmes, including applications for funding, approvals, and how many applications were pending. Mr Ó Broin outlined that he had sought the information because of what he believed were 'significant delays in the approval of social and affordable housing scheme applications' which would have a knock-on effect on output. READ MORE However, the data was refused on the basis of commercial sensitivity, he said, with the Department of Housing also saying it would be too cumbersome to collate. Following correspondence with the department, including its top civil servant Graham Doyle, and a series of further parliamentary questions in March, Mr Ó Broin submitted a complaint to the Ceann Comhairle. In a letter to the Oireachtas, he said it was his view that the information was being 'deliberately withheld' as it would confirm a 'very significant problem with social and affordable housing scheme approvals'. Ms Murphy contacted the Department of Housing on foot of the complaint, which told her that it had provided some data in response, but that the format of his query fell outside the 'normal reporting process'. 'The information sought is not readily available and its compilation would involve a disproportionate amount of time and work,' the department told the Ceann Comhairle, adding that period publications it compiled contained 'the majority' of the data being sought. In a response to Mr Ó Broin, Ms Murphy wrote that she had decided to examine the issue under Dáil standing orders (the rules under which the business of the house is organised) which dictate that ministers must 'address each and every request for information' contained in a question from a TD submitted through the Oireachtas. Having reviewed the question and replies, Ms Murphy told the Sinn Féin TD that she agreed with him that the replies 'do not comply with the provisions of the standing order'. The exchanges were first reported in Tuesday's edition of the Irish Examiner. She said that an argument from the department that the information was not readily available and would take a disproportionate amount of time and work to compile was 'not a sufficient basis … to either disallow or fail to adequately reply to a question'. 'The Minister shall be requested to provide an indicative timeline as to when this data can be collated.' She added that the decision had been communicated to the Minister for Housing. The Department of Housing and a spokeswoman for Mr Browne have been asked for a comment.
