Horan’s airport vision is far from complete

Every time we use Knock Airport, we bask in the wonder of what a single-minded priest achieved on the hill at Barnacogue.

Monsignor James Horan was an incredible man. He had a vision far ahead of his time for the West of Ireland.

An airport at Knock was famously dismissed by Fine Gael’s Jim Mitchell as the ‘foggy, boggy hill’ when its development was being discussed. It was not a project central government were keen on. Even though he grew to back it, Charlie Haughey was very circumspect initially.

Undeterred by the lack of official approval, Monsignor Horan ploughed on – literally. He got Harrington's Quarries in with machinery for one of the greatest publicity stunts ever seen in the West of Ireland. They were ‘at work’ while he was being interviewed by RTÉ’s Jim Fahy in 1981. The truth of it was the project was out of money but the Monsignor was more than capable of making the best of the hand he had so he asked Harrington's to come in and pretend to be working. The interview on RTÉ was a massive step forward.

It would be short-circuiting matters somewhat to say the rest was history but it was a key moment in the journey to the airport becoming a reality and showed the cunning and ingenuity of the Partry native.

Everyone marvels at the story of Knock Airport and the legendary figure behind it. People in the West of Ireland have a great loyalty to it. It’s ease of access and wide range of routes draw nearly a million passengers annually.

Nowadays James Horan would not be able to do what he did at Knock. There would be just too many insurmountable regulatory barriers to clear. That said, it is amazing that he was able to do what he did in the 1980s.

All of this makes us very grateful for what we have at Knock. And while we should absolutely value it, there’s also the risk of being too easily satisfied as a result of being on the receiving end of crumbs from the table for so long. The reality is that the great passenger airport that Knock Airport is would make James Horan proud but he would be wondering about the second part of his vision.

For him, Knock was not just a location for access and connectivity. Monsignor James Horan had a vision for Knock being an employment hub. While there are good job numbers at the airport itself, he saw Knock’s future as similar to Shannon, where another visionary, Brendan O’Regan, made huge strides.

O’Regan was the man who invented duty free (yes, worldwide) and the concept of a tax-free element around an airport grew from there. His next step was Shannon Development and the Shannon tax free zone which brought huge employment to the Midwest region with companies availing of the benefits of operating in the tax-free zone around the airport.

In the bleak 1980s, Monsignor Horan saw far too many of the West’s brightest and best emigrating. Ironically, in the early years, that was one of the bittersweet aspects of Knock Airport. The departures was full of tears as families said farewell to loved ones who had to emigrate for work.

Monsignor Horan saw Knock as somewhere that could follow in Shannon’s footsteps and become a hub of employment. The Horan Airport Trust – which was originally set up to oversee the airport and still does – has as its objectives to develop international access and create employment. A partial success, it is fair to say.

In an interview with this writer in 2023, Joe Gilmore, CEO of Ireland West Airport, was very cogent on this point when asked if Monsignor Horan would be proud of what Knock has become.

“The way I look at it I think he would be very pleased with the success of the airport from the point of view of access and connectivity that the airport has been able to develop. I think he would be disappointed on the employment side.

“If you look at James from reading and what I do know of him, he was very industrious and very much a man of the people in any of the parishes he was in. He was very focused on job creation and employment so I think he would be disappointed there has not been further development around the airport. That’s only my personal opinion,” he said.

The vehicle for this becoming a reality is the Knock SDZ (Strategic Development Zone). Plans for the SDZ at Knock were initiated in 2017 (at Enda Kenny’s last Cabinet meeting as Taoiseach) but have been considerably delayed. One might argue it was a significant delay even getting to the starting point, over three decades after the airport opened. An economic report in 2019 said the Knock SDZ has the potential to see up to 6,000 jobs created. 

Government assistance is needed and it was encouraging to see the appointment in July of Dominick Healy as project manager of the Knock SDZ. He took up the role in August and his first task was to prepare a roadmap and programme for the development of the SDZ, working with the multi-agency steering committee established by the Government.

"The vision for Ireland West Airport is that of a dynamic regional airport and business campus that will become an economic gateway to the West and North-west," said Minister of State Dara Calleary at the time of Mr Healy’s appointment. "The appointment of a project manager is a major step forward for the airport and presents an opportunity to drive investment and employment at a key strategic location in the region; this will help to deliver on a key Government priority in terms of more balanced and sustainable regional development," he added.

Balanced and sustainable regional development is something the wWst has been crying out for over a period of decades. Monsignor Horan banged the drum, so did the late John Healy and many, many more. Time will tell just how determined the Government is to turn a priority into a reality.