Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

They should not be mutually exclusive. I want to see the airport thrive because I want to see workers with well-paid jobs in the airport being able to live locally as they have done and to continue to grow towns such as Swords, as has been the case over the years. That is where I am coming from.

Mr. O'Leary's opening statement referred to the move to lower-cost airports. We had an issue which has been well documented at this committee about how standards collapsed at Dublin Airport for a couple of months this year. In a subsequent contribution, Mr. O'Leary said they would be suboptimal by 2023. How can we get the balance between a lower-cost airport equalling a poorer customer experience? I feel that the success of Ryanair particularly in driving lower-cost fares has fed into lower-cost airports, which is ultimately a bad thing because the experience in airports of poor toilet facilities, lack of coffee facilities and generally queuing from when you get out of your car or bus to when you get onto the plane.