Mr. Paul Hackett:

On the recommendations, we have covered the points about CRSS inclusion and refunds and we have alluded to the need for a legislative evaluation around the package travel directive and Regulation EC 261/2004. The key matter we would like to discuss with the committee is the requirement for testing at airports. That will build confidence in the consumer to travel again. We wish to comply with what needs to be done in respect of public health until such time as it is safe to travel but Covid-19 is here for the medium and long term, to use a travel analogy. One of the key things that did not happen yesterday with the Council documentation and the Council recommendations was a recommendation for the lifting of quarantines and the implementation of testing. The system still has a patchwork nature and traffic lights change colour as we know. We can see what has happened in recent weeks with the case numbers, which can move dramatically. The rate of transmission within the community is transmission that we effectively do not know the origin of.

We need clarity. The one way that we can have clarity is if we create the infrastructure and environment in our airports. Having recognised the importance of connectivity to this island and across the corporate and leisure sectors, testing must happen in the airports. We must support the Dublin Airport Authority and Shannon Airport in what they are trying to do to put that in place, and see what we can do to work with the airlines.

From our point of view, we will call out the flaws in what happened yesterday. We would be supportive of the airline industry in terms of its criticism of what happened yesterday at EU level. The issue was kicked down the road, possibly because of the timing issue insofar as case numbers are increasing right across Europe. Testing at airports must be a key factor in the recovery of travel and the aviation and airlines sector.