Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 3 November 2020

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport

Issues Affecting the Aviation Sector: Discussion (Resumed)

Photo of Duncan SmithDuncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I did not mean to put that across but it was put out there and it is part of the conversation. We do have emerging examples though. Istanbul Airport has a big testing regime. We spoke to representatives from Rome Airport last week and there are a number of other airports as well. There is a growing body of examples for us to look at. I will conclude with this as I have only ten seconds. My concern is that if we do not have anything in place then restriction fatigue will creep in and as we move into 2021 people will just start making bookings. They will go onto ryanair.comand aerlingus.com, and demand flights to Europe, America or wherever because they will be saying: "Flip this, I have had a year plus of a tough time and I need to get away." If that happens - because the airlines will take the bookings, as will the hotels on the far side - and we do not have a testing regime in place then we are potentially going to be in a really poor situation.

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