Ireland and Shannon ideally located to be major hub- Costello

11 October 2011

by Cllr Joe Costello

Topical Issues:
"The need for the Minister for Foreign Affairs to provide a template for the development of Shannon Airport as a hub for the storage and distribution of emergency humanitarian supplies".

One of the most interesting and creative ideas in "Towards Recovery Programme for a National Government" is contained in the following statement:

"We will position Ireland, in particular Shannon Airport, to become an international hub for the storage and distribution of emergency humanitarian supplies".

Shannon has lost much of its business in recent years due to direct transatlantic flights to Dublin and because of it ceasing to be the hub for transatlantic flights for the old USSR.

It has received partial replacement business as a hub for the transport of US troops to the theatre of war in Iraq and now in Afghanistan. This is a controversial issue and not in keeping with Ireland's neutral standing.

In any case US troops are due to be repatriated by August 2012. Shannon will lose all that business and its future viability will be in question once again.
The Treaty of Lisbon introduces for the first time a specific legal basis for humanitarian aid in the EU.

Humanitarian Aid is now an EU policy in its own right.

More than 40% of all official international aid is provided by the EU which is by far the world's leading humanitarian donor.

The principle objectives are as follows:

"to save and preserve life during emergencies, natural disasters and their immediate aftermath;

to provide the necessary assistance and relief to people affected by long-lasting crises arising, in particular, from outbreaks of fighting or wars;

to help finance the transport of aid and efforts to ensure that it is accessible to those for whom it is intended for;
to carry out short-term rehabilitation and reconstruction work, especially on infrastructure and equipment, with a view to facilitating the arrival of relief;

to cope with the consequences of population movements (refugees, displaced people and returnees) caused by natural and man-made disasters;

to ensure preparedness for risks of natural disasters or comparable exceptional circumstances and use suitable rapid early-warning and intervention systems;" (1996)

The European External Action Service (EEAS) is a new diplomatic service which will deal with Europe's external action particularly the Common Foreign and Security Policy but also with development co-operation and humanitarian aid.

The EEAS has been effective in the delivery of humanitarian aid and development in the cases of the recent earthquake in Haiti and the demands of the Arab Spring.

Ireland and Shannon specifically, has the logistics to be a major hub for the location and dispersal of humanitarian aid in the event of natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis and famine and in the case of man made disasters such as war and destruction.

Ireland and Shannon are ideally located on the edge of the Atlantic. Shannon has the depot capacity and the runways to take all sizes of container air transport.

Ireland is a neutral country and is acceptable as an honest broker in virtually every country in the world.

The new legal and policy significance conferred on humanitarian aid and the establishment of a new Agency the European External Action Service (EEAS) provides the opportunity to develop a hub for the storage and delivery of that aid throughout the world.

Ireland is ideally positioned to provide that hub at Shannon.

I believe it is now time to develop a template and present it to the EU and indeed to the United Nations.