Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As somebody who is based in Dublin but who has three west of Ireland grandparents, I wish Shannon Chamber and Ms Fitzgerald Kane the very best in everything they are doing. My local publican, Mr. Charlie Chawke, is from Adare. I know Adare very well and I believe the region has so much to offer.

I have always admired Shannon as the birthplace of things like duty-free and Irish coffee. Aeroflot's fuel farm was there in the 1980s and 1990s and so on. Shannon has been a significant part of Irish aviation forever and I certainly want to see it do well.

I would often be much happier if not everybody was flying or had to fly out of Dublin. It benefits people who do not or should not have to come to Dublin for all the flights. If we can share that aircraft and airport traffic better across the entire island, it would be good for everybody, including sometimes on days when Dublin Airport is enormously congested. Do not think that just because we are in Dublin we want to keep it all for ourselves. That is not the case.

I have a couple of questions on route incentivisation. Is that purely and only for returning traffic? It is not for new routes. It is just for routes that were there in 2019.