Mr. Eddie Wilson:

I thank the Deputy. There are two distinct phases in this. One must have a basis for travelling, and in Ireland we do not have that at present. The Deputy is correct that the situation has got progressively worse in Europe. However, at least most of those countries are well positioned for when confidence may return. We have not even got to the starting blocks in Ireland because we are prevaricating all the time as to what we are going to do. We must not forget that official Government policy for the citizens of this nation, since March, has been not to fly. What it has done is put an anchor around the neck of airlines in and out of this country and this has resulted, unfortunately, in Cork and Shannon closing as Ryanair bases. If there is going to be an upturn here, the real work starts in convincing people to travel. It will be easier to convince people to travel on short haul rather than on long haul. However, when that comes about, we will have to start that hard work, but there will be fewer aircraft and less capacity.