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

I will not say too much, but I support the comments made by the two previous speakers about the hard work that has been done by staff in the DAA and, indeed, by Mr. Dalton Philips, who has been wonderful to work with. I compliment him and the staff of Dublin Airport in addition to the staff and management of Cork Airport.

The concluding point I wish to make relates to the trends when crises have happened in aviation back through the decades. Nothing has hit aviation quite like this pandemic, but looking at the aftermath of 11 September 2000 and the global recession, the trend is always the same. There is a return to a situation of rapid growth and recovery in the sector. I have no doubt that aviation will very much benefit from that. It is unclear how quickly that will occur. It is purely based on the situation with Covid because we do not know where it is going. However, if we work under the assumption that we will emerge from the Covid pandemic in the course of the next 18 months and, hopefully, herd immunity will have been reached internationally, we can only assume that Dublin Airport will be heading for potentially 40 million passengers over the next ten years.

I want to look to the future rather than talk about the past. It is very important for Mr. Geoghegan to seize the opportunity in the climate we are in now politically, where there is such a focus on getting things done rapidly. We have learned a great deal from Covid and that we can get through some of the traditional barriers that may have slowed down the development of key infrastructure. With regard to the future growth of Dublin Airport in terms of the provision of new terminal facilities, the airport utilises piers and I accept that. Perhaps there is no need for a new arrival or departure facility at Dublin Airport. However, in terms of the pier capacity to allow the airport to expand the number of routes it operates and the capacity of those routes, I wish to see growth and development in that area, particularly while there is a Government in place that wants to back development. Providing the additional capacity is quite exciting. There is the new runway, and Mr. Geoghegan has spoken extensively about that. I want him to focus on the provision of new piers at the airport. What is his plan? What does he intend to do? Will he be building new piers or a new mid-field facility or is he looking at renovating existing facilities or demolishing older facilities and replacing them with more modern facilities? I want to focus him on that, if he does not mind. Will he give some insight into what the airport is planning over the course of the next ten years? That is in the context of a desire now just to move on and to start planning for the future, particularly from my point of view as the transport spokesperson for Fianna Fáil. That is my frame of thought.