A row has flared over a proposal for a new airport a few miles from Bundoran with a runway long enough for trans-Atlantic aircraft.
The head of a consortium of land-owners and business interests on the Donegal-Leitrim border said the proposal was made a year ago when a 600-acre site was offered to the Sligo Airport Company as an alternative to its existing controversial airport at Strandhill.
Plans for expansion of Strandhill have been held up because of objections by environmental campaigners.
The proposed alternative site with a 2,000 metre runway is 45 kilometres to the north and runs close to the southern shore of Lough Melvin, five kilometres from Bundoran, between Kinlough and Rossinver.
Bundoran-based developer Charlie Fergus, who heads the consortium, proposed the site in a letter a year ago when the controversy over the Strandhill airport was gathering momentum. The letter and its details have remained a secret until now.
It was addressed to Sligo county councillor Albert Higgins, chairman of Sligo Airport Company.
Mr Fergus, believing closure of Strandhill could be imminent, said a hand-delivered letter proposed the alternative airport on land which was unlikely to attract the same environmental objections.
Mr Fergus, whose company in the UK provided a 400-strong workforce for development at Stansted Airport in the 90s, said Kinlough was an ideal location for an airport to serve populations in an 80-kilometre radius stretching towards Letterkenny, Omagh, Cavan and Sligo.
But Mr Higgins said yesterday(Tues) that the proposal was so “outlandish” it wasn’t even considered by the board of Sligo Airport.
He said: “It was never a runner. There is no question of moving the airport anywhere else. The only people who suggested it be moved are the objectors.”
He denied that he ever indicated consideration would be given to an alternative site.
“It wasn’t even worth discussing. Where would anybody get the money for such a project in the current climate? There would be men coming for you in white coats and if they weren’t they should be.”
Main objectors to plans for the expansion of the Strandhill airport have been the Dorrins and Cummeen Strand Conservation Group.
It supports consideration of the proposal for an alternative site. The group claims the Strandhill expansion plans, including a proposed 259-metre extension of the existing runway, would destroy the surrounding wildlife habitat, particularly for Brent Geese, deprive the community of long-established access to recreational facilities, and force the closure of one of the biggest clam-farming enterprises in Europe.

Reporter: Paddy Clancy