Minute by John Leydon on Ireland and transatlantic aviation

Dr. Warner called to see me today before leaving on his return journey to Montreal. Apart from some casual conversation, Dr. Warner expressed the highest appreciation of the assistance the Irish Government had given to PICAO, and the generally enlightened attitude of the Government in relation to the development of Civil Aviation. He spoke very highly of the effective contributions made to the work of the organisation by Mr. O'Driscoll,¹ Mr. Monaghan² and Mr. O'Sullivan.³ He also said that he had been looking forward to an opportunity of conveying to me personally his appreciation of the Government's decision to make a contribution to the cost of maintaining the Weather Ships in the North Atlantic.

Dr. Warner then went on to say that he hoped we would reconsider, as opportunity offered, the question of signing the Transit Agreement and thus waive the compulsory stop at Shannon. He said that he recognised we have a problem of our own in connection with the use of Shannon but he felt that Shannon has established itself to such an extent that even if we waived the compulsory stop we would still get a worth while volume of traffic. He said that he thought if we waived the compulsory stop some of the services would probably overfly Shannon but that, as against that, we might get some traffic which we are not getting now; he mentioned that Trans-Canada Airlines and KLM would, in his opinion, use Shannon to a limited extent if we waived the compulsory stop but that the Governments of these countries will not be prepared to accept the obligation of a compulsory stop.

I thanked Dr. Warner for his complimentary remarks and said that, as regards the compulsory stop at Shannon, the matter has been frequently under consideration by the Government and that at present there is no prospect of a modification of the Government's attitude. I emphasised the importance from the Government's point of view, of seeing that the maximum use is made of Shannon having regard to the amount of money which has already been spent on it, and the necessity for spending further large sums. I pointed out that it had been particularly difficult for us to agree to make a contribution to the cost of weather ships because we have ourselves been maintaining services at Shannon for operators of other countries' airlines, and that they have shown no disposition to make any contribution to the cost of maintaining them. I said that if we had reached a stage at which it had become clear that Shannon would be used extensively even without a compulsory stop there might be some grounds for adopting a different attitude but that I felt we have not yet reached such a stage. Dr. Warner, however, thought that Shannon has established itself as a great international airport and said that passengers speak very favourably of it on both Continents.

I told Dr. Warner that associated to some extent with the question of the compulsory stop is the question of the use of Dublin Airport for transatlantic services. I mentioned that some of the American Companies have been pressing for this for some time. Dr. Warner said that this was new to him and that he would not by any means regard this in the same light as the question of the compulsory stop. He thought that if we provide an international airport at Shannon, it is entirely a matter for ourselves to decide in the light of our own national interest whether we should allow transatlantic operators to use Dublin. I pointed out to him in this connection that hitherto we have adopted a liberal attitude on the question of Fifth Freedom and that if transatlantic operators were allowed to use Dublin Airport they would be in a position to take full advantage of this to the detriment of our local services. Dr. Warner fully appreciated this point and repeated that nobody could complain if we settled, in the light of our national interest, the question of the use of Dublin Airport for transatlantic services.