Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will try to cover that issue. I have not spoken yet as a full member and nor have another two full members. I am conscious of the time. I am based in Dublin but I visit all counties, including Donegal recently. I was thinking of flying and I will mention some of the barriers preventing me from doing so. I regretted not flying because I did not realise just how far Dungloe is on a Friday afternoon. For those living in Dublin, it takes time to get to Dublin Airport, whether taking the Aircoach service or are getting there in some other way. People arrive at security two hours in advance, board a plane, fly for half an hour to Kerry or for 50 minutes to Donegal and then we they arrive, they do not have a car at the other end. Is there anything we can do to make it easier for people to use the Kerry route? I was in Kerry in April and I drove because I wanted my car at the other end. Representatives of the car rental industry appeared people before the committee a few weeks ago. It is expensive to rent a car. People want to have a car at the other end. Kerry is a beautiful county but it is not the most well-served county by public transport for those trying to get to relatively inaccessible places. Those are the kind of barriers I see. I could drive from Dublin to Kerry in four hours. By the time, I plan to get to the airport, spend two hours there, fly to Farranfore and then travel to Killarney or wherever, I would have already reached my destination by car. In Alaska or Canada, the journey times are enormous. Donegal is probably the furthest or most difficult road journey in the country. The motorway programme has meant that the old days of flying to Shannon Airport are gone. I know people who worked in Shannon in the 1990s and they all flew up and down in the Aer Lingus jumbo jet all the time because the roads were so bad. Now the roads have improved. Galway Airport has certainly been a victim of that, as has Waterford Airport although probably to a lesser extent. I know it is not represented today. Obviously, Galway Airport is not represented because it no longer exists. What can the airports do to market their use for people in Dublin who want to go to these places? Clearly there is a huge population base in and around Dublin who go to Donegal. Two of my grandparents are from Mayo but I have never flown to Ireland West Airport Knock. I cannot fly to Knock from Dublin anyway. How do we improve the connectivity for tourists who fly into Dublin from Dubai or Abu Dhabi and want to fly direct to Kerry, which can be done?

Everyone does the parochial thing. I am not coming from the regional perspective. We visited Cork and Shannon and I was delighted with both of those visits. I said we should visit Ireland West Airport Knock, Kerry and Donegal in our work programme. Perhaps we should even fly into Donegal to visit the airport. It is probably the best way of getting there from here and seeing one of the most beautiful landings in the world. Sometimes there are barriers that are not within one's control, as such. Some airports have a different screening mechanism. I do not suggest that there would be no screening, but that there might be a fast-track for domestic travel. I saw it in Geneva, for example, for people going to France. If we go to Donegal, are we stuck in the queue with everybody else? Some airports have a separate tier for regional travel, so that people are not queuing in the same way as for long distance travel. I am throwing out a few thoughts because much of what needed to be covered has been covered.

Is Cork Airport forecasting approximately 2.24 million travellers this year? Shannon had 1.5 million last year. What is the forecast for this year? Is it about 1.6 million?