Mr. Evan Cullen:

It would have been helpful if we had known we were going to have a discussion about Shannon Airport and the Copenhagen Economics report. There was certainly no mention of that in the invitation letter I received.

IALPA absolutely supports public service obligations, particularly during the current pandemic, to provide direct access cargo through both Shannon Airport and Dublin Airport for all foreign direct investment companies. At the moment, Aer Lingus is subsidising connectivity between Ireland and the US for big pharma and the high-tech sector. It is losing money by making sure Ireland remains connected to the United States and Europe, particularly on cargo operations. There should be a rethink on how we do cargo, particularly freighter cargo, as opposed to belly cargo which is fundamentally different. Shannon Airport provides opportunities in that regard for growth and the development of a major global hub for freighter cargo as opposed to belly cargo.

On the issue of testing, as I stated, our position is that antigen testing is needed because it is quick and cheap, but also because if it is imposed on 100% of departures and arrivals, it would have a greater benefit and enable more screening than the voluntarist nature of the PCR testing the Government is currently promoting. In our view, it is ridiculous to expect people who fly into the country to get a PCR test voluntarily and at their own expense at some remote private operator and to then decide whether they will self-isolate for five days or 14 days. Mandatory testing for everybody at airports is needed.

To come back to the Copenhagen Economics report and the comparisons made with Amsterdam, all present know that the Netherlands has three times the population of Ireland but only approximately half its area. A much more integrated and holistic policy is needed, rather than people being invited to a meeting on Covid and its impact on the sector and then being effectively hijacked, as has been the case here today.