Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome all of the witnesses to this meeting. We are compiling a very important report and I took the opportunity to extend an invitation to Limerick Chamber to come before the committee today to discuss Ireland's aviation policy. The world has changed because of the pandemic and aviation has also changed but we now have an opportunity to have a root and branch look at the sector and at aviation policy. I am particularly interested in the Copenhagen Economics report commissioned by Limerick Chamber which looked at this question. I am interested in the situation in other countries. In Holland, for example, the Dutch Government has an aviation policy that is focused on redressing the imbalance at Schiphol to the betterment of other airports. I ask Dr. Cahill to expand on that. The report also identified a number of strategic routes that would be beneficial to the mid-west and western regions including to Frankfurt, Charles de Gaulle and other airports. I ask the witnesses to elaborate on the benefits of direct daily flights to Frankfurt from Shannon, for example. The report makes a very strong case for the need to underpin strategic routes with money from bodies like the IDA rather than just from Tourism Ireland. I ask them to expand on that point too.