Irish Government and Shannon airport

The latest fiasco at Shannon airport is a fascinating case study in the hypocrisy of the Fianna Fail. In theory government policy (for years) has been to support development in the West which is totally underdeveloped, a policy which will also help the East which is suffering from uncontrolled over-development and a population explosion. However every time this alleged policy hits a chunk of reality it implodes. Aer Lingus dumping the only link from the West to the Heathrow uber-hub is in complete contravention of the policy. What are the government going to do about it? Nothing. To quote that clown Dempsey, Minister for (don't laugh) Transport, "Aer Lingus is a commercial company and the decision is theirs to make". Well fine so. If the government is to have nothing to do with commercial decisions in the West let's be honest and chuck out this bullshit about regional development policy. When the government privatised Aer Lingus they kept a 25% share. What are they going to do with this? Nothing. They refuse to call an egm to examine the issue and when other shareholders do call an egm the government are refusing to vote against aer lingus management. The free market ayatollahs are always lecturing us about the wonders of 'shareholder democracy'. What good is democracy if your refuse to vote? On top of that the government was warned before the privatisation to secure the Heathrow slots which were given free to Aer Lingus aeons ago on the basis that it was a national carrier. Speical rules were written into the articles of association to do this and guess what ... they don't cover this situation.