Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for attending today, particularly Mr. Sean Kennedy who flew in for this meeting.

Open skies exist between the European Union and the United States. Should the United Kingdom decide it does not want to be part of that, is there an opportunity for Ireland to become the European hub for transatlantic flights? There is a suggestion that British Airways has been examining that option with the development of the new runway in Dublin Airport and the availability of US preclearance facilities? If the UK is not subject to the legislation to compensate for delays, etc., that might also be an opportunity for this country.

It was said that legislation would be required for taxis to allow them to pick up and drop off across the Border. Will that require joint legislation between the UK and Ireland?

Expansion of Rosslare Europort is limited because of the amount of space available there. It was mentioned at a meeting in Brussels with Mr. Michel Barnier that there is an opportunity to develop a ro-ro port to bypass the UK because of the problem of tariffs in and out. Is there room in Rosslare for such a development or has the National Transport Authority looked at alternative ports? Has it looked at capital funding options from the European Investment Bank to develop much larger ro-ro and passenger services to mainland Europe from Ireland to squeeze the UK out of it?