Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his comments about An Post. I want to acknowledge Ms Jenny O'Hora from the Department. She was instrumental in leading on this matter and getting this package over the line. With regard to aviation, regional connectivity is absolutely critical. I am from Galway and use Shannon Airport regularly. It is great to walk through the baggage control having all your liquids. You do not have to take anything out of your bag, not even your laptop or phone. It is a very swift and easy route to travel. As the Deputy will know, we included Shannon Airport in the regional airports programme because of the Covid pandemic and the concern I had to ensure that Shannon, and Cork for that matter, would be in a position to rebound coming out of the pandemic. That is why they were included in the regional airports programme for the first time. There is also a marketing fund available for the Shannon Group, which was also doing a really good job before the Covid pandemic.

With Ms Mary Considine, the CEO, and the new chair, Mr. Conal Henry, the group has a dynamic team who are up for driving more connectivity to the mid-west. I do not need to convince the Deputy about the importance of this.

Airlines will choose where they want to go in the market. The review of the national aviation policy started in 2020 just before the pandemic. A pause was put on the review and rightly so because we had to deal with the pandemic. The thinking, which was correct, was that we needed to wait until the pandemic ended to see how aviation would settle, what the travel patterns would be and whether people would travel for business again. The census will also feed into the review. We will resume the review this year and it will involve a large amount of consultation.