Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Will the witnesses clarify that the free travel scheme will not be affected by Brexit directly? We might note in our report the requirement for primary legislation on the cross-Border taxi issue. I thank the witnesses for their presentation on the cross-Border bus service but that needs a detailed explanation as to what we can do for our report. All of the issues raised by that were concerning.

Regarding the open skies policy, the US-UK agreement is a concern to us. However, the UK-EU agreement is our main concern. I realise Frankfurt and Paris will try to steal Heathrow’s economic benefits. We need to press that because of the air-bridge issue. The committee needs to include in its final recommendations a draft of what is required in this regard. When the European Union says Ireland needs to be supported first before it moves on to the next element, air travel needs to be part of that because of the air-bridge between Dublin and London. I would suggest the committee writes directly to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport after this meeting calling on this to be done. It is of such a pressing nature that we need to make sure it is on the agenda.