Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses. I was happy to listen to all of the contributions and the debate over the past two and a half hours or however long we have been here. Understandably, there was interest from colleagues from the regions. As transport spokesperson for my party, it is important to have this opportunity. It is part of an extended series of meetings that we have done with a range of stakeholders. The post-Covid recovery seems to be going well in terms of numbers, but I believe this engagement was prompted by the sustainability of the airport network and the policy in that regard. The question is how we can address the dominance of Dublin and influence the distribution of capacity. We are coming towards the end of the series of meetings. It has not all been straightforward. We have had the airlines in before us. The witnesses know better than I do what is important to them. There is a challenge for whoever is in government to ensure the sustainability of the network.

I have a couple of questions which I have heard from the airlines in particular when we asked them about what influences their decision-making.

One of the issues they talked about was the offering or package and the readiness or quality of the package coming from airports. It seemed that it was almost a regional proposition. It was not just an airport; it was the tourism board, the local authorities and the regional authority. Are the witnesses satisfied that the environment is in place in their regions to present their proposals or is there room for improvement with regard to how they would go about making those propositions?

A number of speakers referred to a new route development scheme or proposition. I do not know which one it was but one of the big airlines gave the committee international examples where regions have come together and the state has been involved in providing support for three years. The responses and opening statements addressed those set pieces. I want to ask about realising the maximum potential within the system. My two questions are on the wider environment for presenting a proposition for the region and having a new route development scheme and attracting new routes into the airports.