Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming before the committee. They can see from the attendance at this meeting that it is clearly a topic that is exercising us, our constituents and the travelling public generally. I thank the witnesses for their opening statements. I listened to and watched them contribute during the to and fro.

Quite a number of my questions have been answered. Deputy Lowry made the point that the two baggage handling companies that have been brought before us each deal with about 10% of the overall volume of baggage. We have Aer Lingus here indirectly through Ms Embleton, Mr. Moriarty and so on, but the two baggage handling companies are a relatively small part of the overall baggage handling that happens at Dublin Airport. On that point, would it be fair to say that the vast bulk of the problems involve transfer flights, that is, flights that are not direct flights - for example, people coming from Greece to Dublin via Zurich or Istanbul who arrive at their destination but whose bags get lost somewhere en route? Ms Embleton referred to point-to-point travel. Is it the same with that? Do Air France flights from Dublin Airport to Charles de Gaulle Airport not cause similar problems? Do transfer flights account for most of the bags on Aer Lingus flights that are caught up?