Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 30 November 2022
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport
National Aviation Policy: Ryanair
Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source
I thank Mr. Wilson and Mr. O'Leary for coming in today. We will have the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, in next Wednesday. I ask the witnesses to reflect on today's meeting and to let us know if there are specific further points that they wish us to bring up then. I ask that because we wish to be very direct. Mr. O'Leary and Mr. Wilson have been very informative concerning the aspects of competitiveness, the ETS, the use of the €140 million taken in on what is received, the DAA with the tunnel and then the whole issue of reforming the EUATC.
We want to progress the national aviation policy. Ryanair is critical in this regard. When we were in Schiphol Airport last week, the management there told us that Ryanair had the largest number of flights going through there the day before. Ryanair is, therefore, a serious airline. It is also a major employee. As a committee, we wish to drive aviation policy in a structured way. We will, therefore, raise these issues with the Minister and the Minister of State next week. We are going to produce a report on this area. In fairness, the witnesses have already covered many issues in their submission. If, however, they wish to reflect on and respond to us with specific questions for the members to pose at next week's meeting, we would welcome that. Does Mr. O'Leary have any final comments?
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