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PLANS FOR A Midlands Airport have officially received the support of Offaly County Council and German company Insite Bavaria.
New details revealed to TheJournal.ie show how ambitious plans for an airport in the county would create 5,200 jobs and generate €500 million for the regional economy annually.
Midlands Airport development has now signed a memorandum of understanding with InSite Bavaria.
In the pipeline for a decade, plans for an airport on the Offaly-Westmeath border at Tubber village suffered setbacks during the recession. However, the local authority has now applied to the government’s rural regeneration development fund.
It’s asking for €2.5 million in funding but it’s understood government backing of the project is the greater aim for the application.
Managing director of the project Patrick Little told TheJournal.ie this latest development is a significant step forward.
“A facility of this kind would encourage more compact growth and enhanced regional accessibility. It would facilitate more sustainable mobility and develop a strong economy supported by enterprise, innovation & skills already located in the midlands region.”
The revival of the project has come as somewhat of a surprise in the locality. The announcement of the loss of over 400 jobs in the region today by Bord na Mona the plans for the airport are being welcomed.
Local independent councillor Dervil Dolan said anything that could generate employment in the region must be seriously considered.
“I know many people will scoff and laugh at the suggestion of an airport in the Tubber area but we should remember that when Monsignor James Horan suggested building an airport in Knock over 30 years ago, his many critics regarded the idea of an airport on a “foggy, boggy site” in Mayo as unrealistic.”
Dolan said, over 750,000 go through Knock Airport annually with substantial economic benefits to the local economy in Mayo.
“I know we are a long way from that at present, but the idea of an airport in the Tubber area is at its infancy at this stage and if it is possible to get funding to see if an airport is feasible in the Tubber area, we should support the idea and hopefully something positive can come out of the process for the local area and for the greater midlands area generally.”
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Lets get the Waterford one off the ground first where there’s a population of 500k in the south east region,hopefully minister Shane Ross stops sitting on the Ernst young report that has been done the last few months to see its viability
@dick dastardly: it’s not viable
@dick dastardly: nah yer alright
@Fr.Todd Unctious: will be used to take cargo away from dublin – great idea.
@dick dastardly: Offaly would definitely bea more viable option, opening up a large area from outer Dublin, Galway, Limerick within an hour, and most SE towns withina half an hour. Waterford basically helps waterford, but still the same distance from Carlow etc…
@Gulliver Foyle: Galway and Limerick already have Shannon closer to them than this would be and that’s a ghost town. This is pie in the sky.
I think it is a wonderful idea. If we ask “why not?” rather than “why?” anything is possible. The mindlands is a wonderful part of Ireland with huge potential.
@Emmet Lynch: Plus it has the benefit of a catchy acronym.
Tubber International Terminal. (TIT)
@Emmet Lynch: this is not truely commercially viable.
If it was to be constructed and operated it could only survive with massive subsidies.
Dublin airport is one of the best served in Europe. Shannon, Cork and either of the Belfast airports can pick up any slack.
Knock and Kerry airports will continue to survive on taxpayer handouts.
@Fiasco99: I’ll have you know Ireland West Airport is quite sustainable. What was a pipe dream is now a viable enterprise for the ppl of the wesht. What else are the retired folk of the windy northwest gona do only hop on a flight to Lanzarote in October?!
@Emmet Lynch: better to invest in rail and motorway to the northwest. The tourism potential is huge.
@Colm Lyons: Odd that most of the bogs in Ireland are in Leinster with some even in North County Dublin !
Meanwhile Galway Airport remain shut. Why not regenerate that?
@Ciara McCarthy: needs to be closer to Dublin to up the price of property in the commuter belt
@Brian Scott: Galway has already the second highest house prices in the country.
@Ciara McCarthy: Runway is too short.
@ParSim: yes but it doesn’t have the jobs that dublin has.
@Ciara McCarthy: because Galway city council scuppered plans to regenerate the airport to allow a longer runway to allow jets instead of prop engined short haul planes,
Galway can’t handle international flights
We’ve enough airports. These stories simply muddy the waters about our unbalanced regional development. The things that matter include broadband, completing the M20 Limerick to Cork, the A5 to the Northwest and fixing the chronic underfunding of certain rail lines.
@Irish Cottage Rental:
Some of Ireland’s existing underperforming coastal airports are unviable for a reason; may have something to do with absence of significant traffic flow from 4 directions; just a hunch!
And with our population forecast to grow to 6.7 m by 2051, planning an Airport for a location like Tubber on Westmeath/Offaly border, in the heart of Ireland, makes perfect sense.
Finally, a catalyst with potential to deliver balanced, sustainable Economic Development to a large central region with wide-ranging spare capacity, to take the pressure off the perma overheating economy of Dublin.
need to get a priest involved…..
Christy Moore will get a cracking song out of it
@Frank Dubogovik: “oh me little helicopter will touch down,and then I’ll jump off n hit the town”Ay da lee da low
Already too many airports in the country…. This is a financial disaster waiting to happen!
@damian: No we just need Waterford ‘re opened. It bad several flights to UK .
Great to read good news, I hope it goes ahead.
How many terminals will they need? 1, 2 or 3?
Costa Del Tubber, here we come!!
Unfortunately the BOG airport code is already taken!
(El Dorado International Bogata)
Generation Donut White Elephant, will they ever cop on. Plenty of Airports nearby struggling for routes and they want to add another.
Where are you going to fly from Tubber? There might be enough demand for a flight to London, even one to the English midlands. Beyond that people will just go to Dublin. Look at Derry airport for comparison. It’s dying in its arse
They really need to rethink that design it looks like a giant greenhouse
Let’s get a second runway for Dublin sorted first. I’ve no issue with provincial airports but our main outlet to the world is being strangled without a second runway. Get it done.
@Ciaran Daly: been getting strangled since the 70s
@Ciaran Daly: Please try and look outside the M50, there is life there as well !
There wont be 5200 jobs up for grabs, Tubbers Ciaran McManus will build this airport on his own! #animal
Dublin is only a hour away, Galway about the same.
Shannon/Knock 90min whats there catchment area population ? would make more sense to put money into Galway/Waterford. Athlone 21k and Mullingar 21k combined have a lower population then Waterford 53k and Galway 80k. sure even the town i live in and the next 2 towns over have 50k add Lucan and we’d be at 100k
@Stealth: Tullamore , Portlaoise and Longford is nearby too. Their going to be opening up one of the biggest indoor theme parks in Europe in a few months. Looks like the Germans are paying for it anyways. Lets not mess this up like the Apple project in Athenry..
@Stealth: Athlone is notoriously under-counted, as half of it is in another province. And technically there are two Athlones. You can double that figure if you wish to be realistic.
@Paul: Exactly. 5000 visitors are expected to come to Center Parcs alone per week! They aren’t all going to be from Ireland so it makes perfect sense to have an airport 25 minutes from it. The motorway is already there .Dublin Airport is a mess at the moment. It’s theoretically an hour away but anyone that travels regularly knows that you could be stuck on the M50 for more than that!
Christy Moore…start writing..
I’d rather fly into the Sun.
@lochinvar56: Just like Icarus.
Another opportunity for Michael D to get the Learjet in the air.
@Eoin McCormack: At this rate he will be able to Taxi around from one Airport to the other without ever taking off .
Shannon Airport is an hour from Galway and 20 min from Limerick why do they need another airport
This plan sounds something like the Chinese business hub in Athlone……..
Cork has trouble keeping routes how will the others maintain any themselves ? Doesn’t see a wise plan cause knock has a key attraction at least
Ha, ha, then Ryanair can advertise flights to Dublin North, only 150km from Dublin city, and Michael O’Leary only needs to jump over the fence to get to work.
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