Ms Anne Bonner:

In terms of the future of the sector, Donegal Airport is the most remote regional airport in the country, with no rail network and an inferior road network compared with other locations. Donegal Airport is now recognised as a key element of the region's infrastructure for business and tourism development, and especially for essential needs such as health and education. An independent economic impact study in 2019, by Fitzpatrick Associates, established that Donegal Airport's contribution to the regional economy, in terms of direct, indirect and induced economic impact, is €46.6 million. The airport also indirectly supports employment in the north-west region, amounting to 393 full-time jobs.

The future of Donegal Airport depends on the continuation of the essential public service obligation, PSO, service that links the county to the capital by a 45-minute flight compared with a road journey of between four and five hours, depending on the part of the country in which one lives. Donegal Airport certainly meets the criteria for a PSO service and that must be extended beyond the end of the current contract in 2022.

In terms of State funding, the development of the regional airports programme, RAP, by the Department of Transport under EU regulations has given regional airports the necessary support to enable them to plan and implement the required capital projects for safe, secure and regulatory compliant airport operations under capex and the public policy remit-capital or PPR-C programmes.

The operation of the public policy remit-operations or PPR-O programme contributes to the costs associated with the provision of essential services with no economic return such as air traffic control, emergency and security services. These funds enable the provision of public services by private airport operators.

Although much work was undertaken with input from all stakeholders, the current regional airports programme has not yet been agreed. The airports await confirmation of the longer-term RAP approval in order to plan ahead.

In saying that, we welcome the Minister's announcement yesterday that the funding for regional airports has been increased for 2021 given the current climate.

With regard to the introduction of the EU traffic light system and Covid testing at airports, Donegal Airport welcomes the Minister's decision to progress the implementation of the EU traffic light system to reboot international travel. We look forward to further detail on how this will be implemented.

We believe that pre-departure Covid testing may be the most effective way to allow unrestricted travel between countries and to restore consumer confidence in air travel. We would be happy to work with the authorities in facilitating such testing and stand ready to progress whatever measures are required to be implemented. A robust monitoring of the testing regime would have to form part of the overall process. That concludes our statement.