Ms Gina Quin:

I wish to respond to the points made by Deputy Fitzmaurice and Senator Barrett. As we have all seen in recent years, as a private company, Aer Lingus has been making decisions on its routes, based on the commerciality of those routes.

I am very aware of this having personally campaigned to try to have the west coast route from Dublin reinstated by other airlines, as well as Aer Lingus.

The point we are making on behalf of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce membership and businesses in the region but also for Ireland more widely is that we need to have more connections if we are to grow the economy. As I said, it is a fact that economic studies show international connectivity drives economies; therefore, if this or a future deal were to result in greater connectivity, or additional growth for Aer Lingus, that would be to the benefit of all citizens.

Ireland has very good connectivity in Europe and with the east coast of the United States, but we are quite limited in the opposite direction. There are direct connections from Dublin as far as the Middle East. As there are no connections to Asia or India, there is a significant opportunity to grow connectivity from Dublin which is a major hub. It has many advantages and there is capacity. I would like to see this happen and it could have a significant economic benefit.