James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman. I thank the witnesses for coming in. As a County Cork TD, I congratulate Mr. Cullinane on his new position. He did wonderful work at Cork Airport and I wish him will in his new position within the DAA.

I want to start on a positive note. As someone who has been on an aircraft a few times over the past month, it has been a wonderful experience flying through airports within the remit of the DAA, especially Dublin which at the moment is our only airport that is operational. I very much look forward to utilising Cork Airport once it is back up and running. I thank the DAA for its investment in that airport. Wearing my County Cork hat, I wish to stress some of the points my colleague Senator Buttimer was making earlier on continuing to see the DAA giving Cork Airport the focus it deserves. At a board level within the DAA, it is important there would be a particular focus given to giving some balance, in terms of representation, on the authority's board to the County Cork area. That is imperative for the strategic nature of that airport and its future growth. Overall, I am complimentary of the work the authority has done there, such as the investment being put into our new runway and the new facilities on the ground. It is exciting to see the pace of development and I compliment all the staff and management of the airport for the work they are doing. It has been a remarkably difficult time for everybody working in aviation, whether they are involved with our airlines or our airports, at all levels from management right down to people working on the ground and indeed in the air. I compliment how Government and the aviation sector have worked hand in hand to try to get through this crisis. I firmly believe we are turning a corner. We know that with aviation, things take time but hopefully over the next few years we will get back to the levels prior to Covid. It is looking positive at the moment.

I must switch to a topic of concern. The airports have a critical role in the recovery of the Irish economy. Aviation in Ireland, as we all know, supports more than 140,000 within the economy here. I have a question for Mr. Geoghegan. We have seen recent news, and indeed the authority's own statement yesterday - or that which was reported in the media yesterday - around an increase in airport charges. What direction are we heading in, in terms of what the authority wants? We saw with Heathrow that there was an outrageous proposed increase of up to 50% in airport charges. Are we looking at something like that in the Republic of Ireland? My point of concern is really the health of our own airlines and especially our connectivity. I am concerned about Aer Lingus relocating aircraft to the UK and ensuring our airports here are competitive. My first question is on that. I apologise because I will be interrupting the itnesses as I have quite a few questions to get through.