Stop Knocking Knock Name Change
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press release
Saturday April 22, 2006 23:58
by Keith Martin- Councillor
End the negativity says Mayo Councillor
Cllr Keith Martin wants an end to negative publicity surrounding Knock Airport's name change from Knock International Airport to Ireland Westport Airport Knock
Knock Aiport changes its name
A Mayo based Labour Councillor has critiscised the negative publicity surrounding the renaming of Knock Airport. Councillor Keith Martin from Westport says it is shameful the way the issue is being highlighted in the local and national media by the public and certain politicians as “a bad thing.” Councillor Martin also hit out at comments that Monsignor Horan would be “spinning in his grave” at the thought of renaming the airport Ireland West Airport Knock.
The new name for the airport has received a lot of bad publicity in Mayo since it was changed from Knock International Airport to Ireland West Airport Knock. Councillor Martin says it is a case of a “rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
Councillor Martin maintains “it does not matter what the airport is called, it matters that it is there and it is a success. This airport has been called everything from a “white elephant” to the “foggy boggy hill in Mayo”. In fact it has gone through several different names in its 20 year history. It has been called Connaught Regional Airport, Horan International Airport, Knock International Airport and now Ireland West Airport Knock.
“What matters is that this airport now caters for over 600,000 passengers a year. Between regular flights and charter flights, planes leave Knock airport for destinations in the UK, Spain, Lapland, South Africa and the airport is now gearing up for transatlantic flights to the US. That is what we should be highlighting not the name change.
“There has been a suggestion that the visionary behind the airport's construction, Monsignor James Horan, is being forgotten or dishonoured by the changing of the name of the airport. This is complete bunk. No-one will ever forget that man and what he did for Mayo and for the West of Ireland. There is a dedicated bust to him in the lobby of the airport and his robes are preserved in the National Museum at Turlough House in Castlebar. The idea that he would be upset by the renaming of the airport is not on. Monsignor Horan wanted that airport to be a success and serve the people of the West of Ireland and it is doing that spectacularly and that is the best tribute to his memory that there is.
“We in Mayo should support the management of the airport and congratulate them on the success that the airport is and not take cheap shots over something as silly as the re-naming of the airport. It is still called Knock Airport and it is continuing the vision of Monsignor Horan and that is all that is important.”
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Comments (6 of 6)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6Those socialists, central planning fetishists, communist die hards and cranks of all kinds were opposed to Knock Airport from the begining especially the Labour party who dream of a utopia in which there is only one airport run by one company operating single airline with the Shamrock on the tailfin so we can be proud of being 100% Irish.
Horan forced those bastards to free up our economy and sparked the revolution in business practices in Ireland that gave us the Celtic Tiger.
could I push you to outline to the readership in a succint comment / update, your knowledge on some important issues relating to possible and plausible future anarcho-syndicalist co-operation with (and/or) frustration of local, national, regional, provincial, international (and/or) corporate, semi-state, state partnership, (and/or) small business, self-employed or otherwise commercially engaged in afore-mentioned West Airport Knock (Connaught Regional Airport / Horan International Airport / Knock International Airport ) -
Has it been good for Horses?
Has it been good for Mayo men?
Has it been good for the Mafia?
Has it been good for r-e-l-i-g-i-o-n?
Has it been good for the ducks?
who paid for it?
why is it so effin big?
and finally do you as a publically elected representative on an independent mandate who has now joined a party your voters did not choose to vote for... believe Mary, st. John the evangelist and St Joseph really appeared on the gable end of the pub in 1879?
supporting links
http://www.knock-shrine.ie/
& I note Mr Keith "cyber savvy" Councillor elected by non-Labour voters, that the website of West Airport Knock is still at the domain of http://www.knockairport.com/
this a B52. big USAF jet. drops bombs. needs big airports. not religious. not ryanair either. doesn't fly to Reuss
2 choices -
1) BOSS Airport.
2) CJ Haughey Airport.
& councillor caudillo, you never explained if you as a publically elected representative on an independent mandate who has now joined a party your voters did not choose to vote for... believe Mary, st. John the evangelist and St Joseph really appeared on the gable end of the pub in 1879?
No doubt Cllr Caulidro would contend that he got a Martin mandate not an Independent mandate. He is welcome to the team anyway!
Why are people so concerned with what name Knock airport has? People don't fly there for choice, they fly there because it is cheap so call it what you like. Knock airport is the most pointless airport I have ever flown to as it isn't really near anywhere I want to go to and its biggest fault is that it has no public transport to talk of, what an environmental disaster it is. Why can't the ten euro departure tax be used to subsidise public transport links to Galway and Sligo? I recently had to hire a 7 seater 2litre car to drive myself wife and daughter to Galway. I joined a long queue of visitors at the very long queue for car hire to hire a car to join a convoy of cars to Tuam and Galway. Until Knock gets its environmental policies in place it shouild be renamed Knock Hertz Murphy Avis Budget (inter) National Airport
I am delighted to see the board of Knock Airport ruling out the US military flights or fueling at the airport here in Mayo.
The airport is a great success in its own right and while the US has been good to Ireland, in its own way, its foreign policy and invasion of Iraq is disgraceful. Its continued blockading of Cuba, while it trades with China, its condemnation of Chavez while it props up dictators all over the world and the untold death and destruction in Iraq make helping, aiding or even facilitating the US military a repellent idea.
The board has said it would only ever facilitate military flights if they were for humanitarian purposes. In a statement, it said that any flights involving US military personnel "would have to have the support of both the Government and the United Nations". The board said it believed firmly that any military operation, not supported by both the Government and the UN, was "not compatible with the mission and aims of the airport".