SHANNONED OUT

25-08-2007

It's not enough that the kids will soon be back at school writing about "what I did on my holidays". Nope. Pete Millington wants to get in on the act as well. Ah, go on then. In fact, go on go on go on go on

Something I often notice whenever I visit Ireland is how the country's media becomes dominated, even frenzied, by a single big news story for a prolonged period.

Sure, it happens in the UK too, after all, how many times do we all get sick-to-death of hearing about one particular story that dominates everything else for days on end?

But the competition between tabloids in the UK perhaps guarantees more variety of headlines and a faster turnaround of news stories.

Stories which might grab a one-off sensationalist column over here can become the stuff for weeks, even months of national debate and controversy in the Emerald Isle.

I remember on one occasion switching on the car radio as the ferry doors were still opening in Dublin port to hear the breaking revelation that a local priest had been discovered dead from a suspected heart attack that morning in one of the city's gay massage parlours.

The more startling revelation to me at the time, incidentally, was that the country even had such things as gay massage parlours – the fact that priests might occasionally frequent such establishments, if I'm honest, might not be such a huge surprise.

Indeed, this is a good example of a news item that would have grabbed a fleeting raunchy headline in the News of the World in Britain, but one that rolled out for days on end in Ireland and was still being discussed on prime time news as I drove back onto the homeward bound ferry a fortnight later.

On another occasion I remember the big story was when a female comedian named Twinky made a controversial presentation at a party political conference one year, which deeply offended the opposition party.

In Britain such an interlude at conference would have been lucky to make it into a news review of the week on Sunday lunchtime BBC2, in Ireland it was as if Charles Stewart Parnell had been caught midway through a carnal exchange with Oscar Wilde in the conference hotel – the poor organiser responsible for inviting Twinky was publicly flagellated on the top of Croagh Patrick every day at dawn and dusk for the next six months.

This year the big story in Ireland was the decision by Aer Lingus to pull out their flights between Heathrow and Shannon Airport. As usual we seemed to time our own arrival in the country (via Ryanair as it happens) just as the controversy was first kicking off and from there-on in there was no getting away from it.

Everywhere we went, the story was unfolding, from the main evening news after the GAA hurling and Sunderland FC sports round-up on RTE to casual conversation over a pint of Guinness in the local hostelry:

"So that's two pints of that creamy black stuff everyone else is ordering, three Club oranges, 5 Brunch ice lollies, a packet of cheese and onion Tato crisps and the benefit of your opinion about Aer Lingus pulling out of Shannon airport, if you please, kind bar tender"

Even Fungie the dolphin popped up at one point with a placard reading "So long Aer Lingus and thanks for all the fish"

The gist of the story is that Aer Lingus have decided to pull their flights between London Heathrow and Shannon airport for commercial reasons, thus having a major impact on the economy of a vast region of south western Ireland.

The importance of the service is presumably because lots of astute Celtic Tiger business people have chosen to earn their sterling in Canary Wharf whilst spending their euros in Kenmare? I may be over-simplifying.

Like all big stories there are intriguing twists along the way; the government refusing to get involved in private sector decisions based purely on commercial viability and then being reminded by the opposition that the state is apparently a major investor in the company.

Airline unions highlighting the fact that when Aer Lingus move their Shannon based operations to Belfast, workers will be on less pay and less favourable conditions, sparking off calls for industrial action in both the north and south (Aha! Unity at last!)

Meanwhile, the owner of Aer Lingus's main rival in the Irish airline business, that nice, unassuming Mr O'Leary of Ryanair (where have I heard that name before? asks a quizzically bemused Aston Villa supporter), congenial and altruistic conveyor of the peasantry, chooses this moment to quietly increase his own shares in his historical rival, against all EU best advice.

Talking of history, the Irish media also has this interesting ongoing pre-occupation with the country's past and therefore a knack of somehow relating every current news story back to what Eammon de Valera, in particular, would have thought about the matter.

One newspaper commentary I flicked over ran along the lines of "well, dear old Dev wouldn't have let the post-modern colonial-capitalist exploiters into lovely idyllic rural economy based Shannon in the first ruddy place".

A case of "well Dev did tell you that this would happen if you let them concrete over the bog, now didn't he"?

Perhaps scratching a little more deeply into Irish history for parallels, is it just a coincidence that Aer Lingus pulling out of Shannon is happening at the same time that the country remembers the 400th anniversary of the Flight of the Earls, more or less to the exact month?

An episode in Irish history seen as a watershed, where a number of rich Catholic earls and a few score expedient noblemen fled their castles and estates under increasing English pressure, in favour of a new life of privilege in continental Europe?

The potential parallels are intriguing, especially amid rumours that the Celtic Tiger is losing it's roar, with the Irish economy hit particularly bad by latest global finance trends and greater competition for European infrastructure funding.

And perhaps even more worrying is how quickly the Roy Keane feelgood factor bubble has burst after the entire population of Ireland has just forked out on Sunderland shirts. Things are truly bleak when the Big Man from Cork gets shafted so soon after the revolution.

But far be it for me to be a harbinger of doom for a land I love so deeply and hopefully this story, just like Twinky and the dead priest in the gay massage parlour will eventually cool down..... perhaps after Aer Lingus bosses have succumbed to a little public flagellation at the top of Crough Patrick?

And so it was, after a whole fortnight of raging controversy and intrigue, I eventually heard one very pleasant but news-worn radio commentator come out with a remark to her colleague that will remind me of this year's sojourn to Ireland for years to come: