Mr. Eddie Wilson:

What we have is this drip-drip on airline travel. We always hear about the data but travel has been demonised. We were told throughout the summer that if people did not travel abroad, everything would be fine and, as we now know, it was driven by domestic factors and Government policy failures on track and trace and increasing capacity. I would say to NPHET that if they are going to have an opinion on aviation, maybe they should look at what the experts outside this country say.

NPHET could look to what is being said by the US Department of Defense, the Boeing Company, the World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, ECDC. For some reason, however, it is ignoring all that. We saw that on 1 July when people were advised not to travel, which was not in line with what the ECDC, which we are supposedly following, was saying. As soon as the new traffic light system, or whatever derivative we have, was announced, people were already being told that they might not be able to come home for Christmas. It is not clear why people would not be able to return from green countries or orange countries or whatever, but it seems to be to do with testing. NPHET is dealing a death blow to the industry in Ireland while the rest of Europe looks to move on. People sometimes forget that no airline in this country is State-owned. Airlines are being bailed out throughout Europe and we will have to go to where we will get a return. At the moment, Ireland is bottom of the list because aviation has been demonised, particularly by NPHET. That body should stick to what it knows best.