Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not wish to diminish in any way any funding going to Dublin. It is our capital city, it should be supported and it supports the rest of our economy as well. There are plenty of people from Mayo living and working in Dublin. It is not to begrudge any funding going into Dublin. However, if we are serious about balanced regional development, we need to start looking at the north west. It is left off every map that one looks at.

I asked previously about what we should do about Knock Airport. This is about our industries, and not just our multinationals, because most people in the west of Ireland are employed in the SME sector and in companies employing one to ten people. Access to that airport and the potential for growth around that airport is not being considered. Nothing is being done. That airport is the best economically-run airport in the country. It is the most efficient airport in the country, hands down. It has been met with a blocked wall all of the time. What do we do?