Mayor of Clare criticises Shannon Airport for ‘missed marketing opportunity’ at Irish Open

THE MAYOR of Clare has launched a scathing attack on Shannon Airport for its presence at the Irish Open in Lahinch.

And Meelick councillor Mayor Cathal Crowe has also hit out at the airport for not being invited to their 80th birthday celebrations.

Cllr Crowe delivered a speech at a special council meeting earlier this Monday, in which he critiqued the Shannon Group, stating that the group “must do better to improve its working relationship with this County Council.”

Mary Considine, acting CEO of Shannon Group was in attendance at the meeting, held earlier this Monday.

The Fianna Fáil councillor discussed how an estimated 500 million people “had their eyes fixed on Lahinch” during the Irish Open last weekend, describing the event as “very much open, fertile ground for Shannon Airport to market itself as the gateway airport to the West of Ireland.

“But low and behold, Shannon Airport had no presence at Lahinch,” the Mayor added, “during the Irish Open the airport only posted one lack-lustre tweet about the event that got 10 likes and three retweets.

“This will go down as a gigantic missed marketing opportunity for our local Airport.”

The Mayor also commented that the airport’s marketing infrastructure ”doesn’t exist”, adding: “signage for the airport is limited and promotional billboards can only be found in a 10-mile radius of the airport.

“American travel agents are perpetually pushing the case for flying into Dublin. The mantra very much seems to be – ‘Fly into Dublin and get the bus to Clare and the western part of Ireland”. What is Shannon doing to combat this?” he asked of the Shannon Group.

Furthermore, the irate councillor described his disappointment at not being invited to the airport’s 80th anniversary event.

“It was disappointing that the airport held a significant event just last week to mark the 80th anniversary of its operations and didn’t invite the chief executive Pat Dowling, Cllr Gerry Flynn (chairman of the Shannon District) or myself, as Mayor of Clare, to attend.”