I accept that d has a point re politics not being relevant to this website as he says. The other side of the coin is that in Ireland we sit passively and while we groan and complain privately we never have the guts to stand up in public and try and change things.

Cork Airport is vital to the Cork Region. If the region is to prosper then we need proper air services. This affects the museum like everyone else in that airfares skyrocket as competition is driven out as is currently happening. This means that people coming to visit us and work are unable to afford these airfares. 90% of our visitors are from the UK so we really suffer.

As an example I have to come back from London this Friday. I have to pay 251 euro oneway to get on the last Aer Lingus flight. And we call this the low fares airline! And this is not even peak season.

Now Aer Lingus have a monopoly in the morning and evening and fares have gone up tenfold. When we had Easyjet and Ryanair in there as competition fares were of the order of 50 to 70 euro each way. Now over 200 is the norm!

So I argue that unless Cork Airport is run properly and charges reasonable rates then we all suffer and rightly, or wrongly, I intend doing something about it or at least trying. Nothing venture, nothing win!

If Cork Airport ends up with 100 million debt we all suffer. Now with an election approaching we have a chance of reversing the decision. Websites are powerful tools to influence government thinking.

So there are two sides to the argument but now the Cork Airport issue has its own site and will no longer feature on this site. How about some views from readers, preferably rational ones?

Michael Grimes

Many thanks for your reply. Im not saying that politics dont have a relevance in transport preservation, and Im aware of all the 'shananigans' surrounding cork airport.

Just I've seen plenty of times where politics, both local and national, have been brought into transport preservation, and it has only ended in argument.

If I had my way everyone in Ireland would be working together, doing what we do best, fixing buses and likewise. And not arguing. And lets face it, the majority of 'fall outs' between transport preservation groups in the country are due to politics of some description, or how things are run.

Im not trying to start an argument, thats the last thing I want to do. I just hate to see politics come into transport preservation - even though sometimes I understand that it is unavoidable.

Please do not take the wrong side of me on this, I am all in favour of the work KTM do. Just as Im in favour of the work that all the other groups around the country do, even if everyone doesnt get on too well.

I always try to keep neutral amoungst the various groups, and I look forward to speaking to all of you that I havent before met at Cultra in a couple of weeks.

dAve.