New Scheme Will Finance Aviation Developments At Shannon

New hangar facilities that will allow Shannon to develop as an aviation services centre will result from a new 'capital allowance scheme'. I've included the full text of my press release in this post.

Clare Senator, Tony Mulcahy has said he expects the construction of new hanger facilities at
Shannon Airport could begin as early as 2013 as part of efforts to attract aviation business. The Shannon-based Fine Gael Senator confirmed he has received details from the Department of Finance of a 7-year Government-backed accelerated capital allowance scheme which will promote the construction of certain aviation-specific facilities at the Airport.

He said ‘significant movement’ is likely in relation to the development of new hanger facilities and ancillary services once the scheduled separation of Shannon Airport from the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) takes place on 31 December. The new entity, which will include the airport and surrounding landbank, will be tasked with developing a proposed international aviation centre of excellence at Shannon. “It is abundantly clear from a report prepared by the Management of Shannon Airport and assessed by KPMG, that the viability of Shannon Airport and surrounding businesses cannot be justified through passenger growth alone,” explained Senator Mulcahy. He continued “By introducing a capital allowance scheme, the Government is underlining its commitment to marketing Shannon as a one-stop-shop for all airline needs, including use of hangars to house aircraft and pilot-training, but primarily for the aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) sector.

It is clear that Shannon is well positioned to develop as an aviation services centre considering the availability of zoned development lands, established expertise, geographical location on the western edge of Europe, availability of highly qualified third level graduates, and its aeronautical engineering courses, flexible workforce, time zone and language. “Currently, the Shannon Free Zone, which includes the airport, employs approximately 7,000 individuals. There are 40 aviation companies there, employing 1,600 people. It is critically important for the future viability of Shannon Airport and the surrounding area that given the global nature of the aviation business and the reality that companies can relocate to numerous other aviation centres that every effort be made to protect existing employment levels at anchor companies, as well as attract new aviation business. I believe that the promotion of Shannon as an International Aviation Services Centre (IASC) will allow this to happen. “The first and main requirement at Shannon is new hangar space. The Department of Finance has informed me that three hangars are needed urgently and that there are potential tenants already lined up for a further three.

Under the plans announced by the Government, it is proposed that the soon-to-be-created Shannon entity will rent the hangars at commercial rates, either to airlines or MRO companies, most of which are SMEs. I believe that the impending creation of the new entity and the planned use of existing and newly constructed hangars and ancillary facilities presents significant job creation potential in the sector,” concluded Senator Mulcahy.

Read more...

850 jobs on the way as Govt confirms Shannon Airport & Shannon Development to merge

If you haven't seen the Departments announcement on the future for Shannon, here's the full press release.
Tony

Monday 3rd December 2012

850 jobs on the way as Govt confirms Shannon Airport & Shannon Development to merge

Decision will grant full independence to Shannon Airport & create new commercial aviation & trade entity

The Government has decided to grant Shannon Airport full independence from Dublin Airport Authority on December 31st 2012 and merge the airport with a restructured Shannon Development to form a new, publicly-owned, commercial entity in 2013.

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation Richard Bruton and Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar have confirmed that the Government will now implement the decision taken in principle last May.

Specific commitments for the creation of 850 jobs has been secured from two Shannon-based companies, as part of plans for an International Aviation Services Centre. These commitments depend on the separation of Shannon Airport from the DAA.

A report from the Aviation Business Development Task Force, set up by the Shannon Steering Group, also states that the Aviation Services Centre ‘is conservatively projected to create and maintain 3,000-3,500 new direct jobs within five years, not including construction jobs’.*

The Government decision will grant Shannon Airport the long-awaited freedom to determine its own future in the best interests of the airport itself and of the Shannon region, and merge it with a restructured Shannon Development. The new entity will include Shannon Development’s extensive landbank and will be tasked with developing an international aviation centre of excellence.

Based on the further detailed work that has been undertaken over the past six months, Minister Varadkar said he is satisfied that Shannon Airport can perform to its full potential without the constraints of remote oversight and DAA control.

Minister Varadkar said: ‘The decision taken today is an historic one and will free the board and management of Shannon airport, together with their employees, to bring a fresh approach to the future development of the airport. A key element of that future will be the development of an International Aviation Services Centre (IASC) in and around the airport, building on a range of aviation-related activities already undertaken in Shannon such as aircraft maintenance and leasing’.

“I am particularly struck by the degree of support for an independent airport across a wide spectrum of interested parties including business interests, chambers of commerce, and local authorities. Airport users, service providers, and prospective new airport customers including airlines and companies have expressed an overwhelming desire to deal directly with Shannon on a separated basis’.

Minister Bruton said: “Last May, the Government decided in principle to establish an independent Shannon airport and restructure the enterprise agencies in the region in a drive to create a world class aviation industry in the Shannon region. This week the Government has made a decision on the details and implementation of that vision, which will act as a catalyst for economic development and job-creation in the region.

“By restructuring the enterprise agencies in the Shannon region we can ensure that indigenous and multinational industry already in the region or considering locating there have access to a comprehensive range of supports. By merging a strong independent Shannon Airport with the extensive property holdings, experience and expertise of Shannon Development we will create a strong new State company which will work with the IDA and Enterprise Ireland on developing an International Aviation Services Centre in the region. The implementation of these decisions represents a new start for enterprise and jobs in the Shannon region.”

Last May, Minister Varadkar and Minister Bruton were tasked by the Government to develop an implementation strategy for the new entity and assess the feasibility of creating an international aviation services centre with the airport as its hub.

They were assisted in this by a Steering Group of senior officials from five Government Departments and two Task Forces under the chairmanship of Rose Hynes (Chair of Bord Gáis Éireann) and John Fitzgerald (Chair of the National Transport Authority and An Post).

Legislation will now be drafted to establish a new, publicly-owned commercial Shannon entity comprising the airport and the restructured Shannon Development. This legislation will also make an appropriate change to the name of the Dublin Airport Authority to take account of the new ownership structures. The Government plans to have this legislation enacted by the Oireachtas by the middle of next year.

It is now intended to make appointments to the Boards of the Shannon Airport Authority and Shannon Development to ensure that the necessary work is undertaken in relation to the establishment of the Shannon entity and the transition arrangements for Shannon Development. In addition, over the next six months, the Steering Group will continue to oversee the completion of that work in the agreed timeline.

Further information

* The Final Report by the Shannon Aviation Business Development Task Force will be published on the websites of the Department of Transport, Tourism & Sport and the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation on Monday. The Final Report of the Change Management Task Force will be published in due course.

Shannon Airport has suffered a serious decline in recent years. It has been loss-making since 2008 and passenger numbers have fallen by 60% over the past five years. Regardless of where ownership of the airport lies, this is untenable. The Government had already made a decision in principle last May that Shannon Airport is not viable within the current DAA structure and is clearly not realising its potential to make a more meaningful contribution to the local economy of the wider Shannon region.

The Government decided last May to restructure Shannon Development and to transfer its enterprise support functions to Enterprise Ireland and the IDA, and its tourism functions to Fáilte Ireland. The transitional arrangements associated with these moves were also examined as part of the work of the Task Forces and these functions, together with the associated staff, will transfer to the relevant agencies from January onwards.

Minister Varadkar said that he will make an Order under the State Airports Act 2004 next month specifying 31 December 2012 as the day (the ‘Shannon appointed day’) on which the assets of Shannon Airport will be vested in the Shannon Airport Authority and from then on, the SAA will be statutorily responsible for the ownership, management and operation of the airport.

Ends

Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport: 01 6041090 / 01 6041087

Read more...

Funds Approved For Shannon Sewerage Scheme Works

The Government’s decision to approve funding for the upgrading of the Shannon Sewerage Scheme will significantly expand the quality and scale of the water and wastewater infrastructure in the town. I received confirmation today from Mr. Phil Hogan, T. D., Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, that he has approved funding to enable Clare County Council to accept the tender of just over €1 million, submitted by Glen Agua Ltd., to provide for significant Mechanical and Electrical upgrading works at four Pumping Stations on the scheme. The existing pumps are over 45 years old. This project will provide capacity to support economic growth and to facilitate new development, while also preserving environmental and water quality standards. Minister Hogan’s approval of the necessary funding allows Clare County Council complete the contract formalities with the successful tenderer so that the works can start as soon as possible. The project is being funded under the Department’s Water Services Investment Programme 2010 – 2013. The contract provides for significant Mechanical and Electrical upgrading works at four Pumping Stations on the Shannon Sewerage Scheme. The advance works will also provide additional capacity at the Pumping Stations.

Read more...

Cancer in the Shannon region – how we compare nationally

I have been asked on a number of occasions if there is a possibility that Shannon and the surrounding region has a higher incidence of cancer relative to the rest of the country. So in February, I asked the general question of Dr Harry Cromber, Director of the national cancer registry and within the overall picture I also asked him to look specifically at breast cancer. His office have now come back to me with their findings.

Dear Mr Mulcahy,
Attached please find results of the analysis of cancer incidence in the Shannon-Town area as you requested (attached in both word and excel format: "cancer data"). As Dr. Comber has indicated we can only provide statistics to the level of electoral division (ED). Shannon-Town lies within the ED "Clenagh" (see attached map "SHANNON AREAS ED'S"). 

So we looked at incidence rates in Clenagh and compared them to rates in the wider Mid-Western Health Board overall as well as to Ireland overall. To be sure that all residents of the area are included, I repeated the analysis to include the electoral district "Drumline" also as its border with Clenagh is fairly close to Shannon town. The results are shown in 2 tables in the attached file. Basically the analysis for Clenagh alone and for the wider area (Clenagh and Drumline combined) shows that the number of cancer cases found in the area was slightly higher than what would be expected based on known incidence rates for the region or the entire country overall but this was not statistically significant. Overall in Clenagh alone, incidences of all cancers were 3% higher than the national average. As the analysis consists of basically comparing incidence rates in local areas with average overall reference rates, it is normal and expected that some areas will have higher incidences than the reference and other areas will have lower incidences. The 95% confidence intervals are generated to give us an idea of how reliable these results are - ie how much the results show a true pattern and are not just a random chance finding. In this case the 95% confidence intervals are wide and show that the results are not statistically significant.

As you mentioned female breast cancer specifically in your email, I generated figures for this cancer specifically (table 2 in the attached "cancer data" file). Results here show that although slightly more cases were diagnosed that what would have been expected, this also was not statistically significant. Looking at the range of cancers diagnosed in Clenagh and the wider area overall and the age profile of patients diagnosed there - the results are very similar to the national picture - in other words, nothing unusual appears when looking at the age distribution of cancer patients in the Shannon-Town area or the type of cancers diagnosed there compared with the country overall.

There are some notes in the attached file (below the tables) that explain elements in the tables in a bit more detail and I have also attached a document on cancer clusters that we normally provide with this type of analysis - it provides a bit more information on the limitations of local area analysis and some points to bear in mind when looking at the results. I hope that the attached information is useful to you. If you have any queries on the data or anything in the results or need any further information, please feel free to contact me.

Best regards, Sandra Deady PhD,
Data analyst, National Cancer Registry

This is the link to the statistics CLICK HERE 
This is the link to a general document on cancer and how it should be looked at in a local context CLICK HERE

Regards
Tony

Read more...