Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I sincerely wish the DAA, encompassing both Dublin and Cork airports, every success. We want to the see aviation recover nationally. We have all taken parochial positions over the years when it came to our local airports because a huge loyalty to them has built up over the years. I have said in the past that there was a kind of predatorial relationship as between the DAA versus the Shannon Airport Authority. That was there coming into the Covid period. It probably was most clearly spelt out in a tweet from the DAA about the Ryder Cup coming to Adare Manor in Limerick in 2026, in which it positioned Dublin as the gateway airport. I take it from Mr. Geoghegan's smile that the tweet was written with tongue in cheek, which is how most of us took it.

That was the past. Since then, we have had the Covid pandemic and a collapse in aviation. There have been many interesting and meaningful debates in this forum about how we would like to see aviation in Ireland move forward over the next two or three years to recovery and beyond that across the next decade. Most of us have declared a position whereby we would like to see a return to a single national airports authority. We are a small island. The motorway on which I travelled this morning puts County Clare just two hours from Dublin. Motorways work both ways in terms of connectivity. There could come a time in the future, based on the charging model to which Mr. Geoghegan is referring and to which Mr. Ó Céidigh referred last week, when there is some kind of charging trade-off or competition. Some would say that is healthy but the question is whether it would serve aviation well overall. The point I really want to make is that the DAA and the Shannon Airport Authority need to look at themselves as partners in Irish aviation and try to work together. We may not see a national aviation policy involving one airport authority, or it may be some time off, but that type of operational co-operation certainly needs to happen.

I ask for the Chairman's forbearance for a further 40 seconds in which I will digress slightly. This committee has championed antigen testing for the past year. Sometimes it felt like we were hitting our heads against a brick wall. Finally, antigen testing has been embraced and we hope it will soon become operational. Much of what has happened over the past 48 hours makes a lot of sense. Covid infections are rising and I very much believe there is still a high risk level attached to the virus. At the same time, we are making huge inroads in tackling it. Many people can live with restrictions going on for another while, but others are absolutely despairing. We should not be seeing teenagers coming under the net of the digital Covid certificates system. In County Clare, there is a famous underage disco in the Queens Hotel nightclub in Ennis.