Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests this morning. I largely agree with the witnesses' criticisms of the green list. It looks to me rather like a Euro championship qualifier group. I do not see much in terms of solid and worthwhile connectivity with countries such as San Marino and Monaco there. They certainly do not offer the quality connectivity on which we in the mid-west, and particularly Shannon Airport, are reliant. Ireland cannot be the outlier of Europe. The R-nought has now crept back into "acceptable" levels, and I welcome the announcement of this by the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, yesterday. I use inverted commas because it was at 1.8 last week and is now around 1.4. I am aware that in Britain this morning the rate is around 0.8 or 0.9. There is a country that has a lower R-nought rate than Ireland. This green list needs to be very fluid. It cannot be reviewed on a fortnightly basis, it has to be very fluid and we need more certainty so people can get in and out with quality connectivity.

I will now turn to the Aer Lingus temporary lay-off of staff. There was very little cognisance of seniority from what I could see. I have looked at a number of Aer Lingus contracts, which were redacted, and the contracts are to the company not to the Dublin station of Dublin Airport, or to Shannon Airport. If there were to be any temporary or permanent lay-offs then I believe they should have been on a last-in, first-out basis. That is how it works in most places of employment. Yet, some of the most senior staff of the organisation in Shannon Airport are those who are losing out most, while those who came in over recent months in Dublin Airport remain on. Perhaps the witnesses will speak about this from a SIPTU point of view.

On testing and contract tracing I would like to hear the views of IALPA on its experience, as its members are flying into a host of different countries. How is Ireland differing from other countries in what they have to offer on inbound and outbound screening right to the departure gates? Is there a difference between airlines also? Surely there are some PPE requirements and guidance offered on aeroplanes apart from the information on how the passenger must clip his or her life vest and how to wear the oxygen mask. Surely there is some guidance or is Ireland an outlier in this regard also? Will the witnesses answer that?

There is another huge issue we have not focused on. I believe that the whole focus has been on Dublin Airport recently.

Some 130,000 passengers have arrived in Dublin Airport since the start of the month but only 8,600 passengers landed in Shannon Airport in May. That is a major disparity and everyone needs to be mindful of that, including the Government and those who speak for workers and the sector. We need to look at bringing Shannon Airport back under the remit of the Dublin Airport Authority.

I will bundle my final questions. I would like to hear more about the filtration system. I have seen people wear masks on aeroplanes in years gone by because they believed they would get a head cold while flying. Is that an old wives' tale? Perhaps the witnesses would comment on that.

Aer Lingus has a nice fleet of Airbus A320neo jets. I understand that at Dublin Airport, 40 fewer passengers than the allowable capacity board these aircraft because the runway does not allow for a fully-loaded A320neo jet to take off. Those are my few points. I ask the witnesses to comment on the reason we are outliers, the Shannon Airport versus Dublin Airport disparity, filtration systems and the A320neo jet issue.