Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Walsh for joining us today. Growing up, I would have seen his rise. I think he was in Futura before he came back to Aer Lingus and on to British Airways and IAG and here he is in IATA. It is great to see another Irish person doing so well in the international aviation industry despite its challenges.

A lot of people will be talking about Shannon for very obvious reasons. The decision that had to be taken is very regrettable and I understand the angst in the region. Shannon is so important to that region.

Mr. Walsh has given us his opening statement. Were he the Minister for Transport of the Head of Government, what are the three or four things he would do in the next week or ten days to get the aviation industry back up and running? We sometimes forget that people in Europe can jump on trains and get from country to country without going to an airport but we cannot. We have a population of less than five million people and in normal times, 33 million people go through Dublin Airport, which is more than six times the State's population. I do not think we would find too many other countries with those ratios.

Mr. Walsh has outlined some of what needs to be done in his statement but will he indicate the three, four or five things he would say, as an aviation expert, Ireland needs to do to ensure we have connectivity in the long run? I am talking about what is needed from a foreign direct investment perspective, a tourism inwards perspective and, equally, a population perspective. Irish people like to travel and visit other countries and there is a huge Irish diaspora across the world. Those people want to visit here and people in Ireland want them to come here. What does Mr. Walsh want us to do, week by week for the next three to four weeks, to get aviation back up to somewhere approaching what it was before? How long does he think it will take to get back to the 2019 figures? Will it be in the next five to ten years or does he not see us ever getting back there?