Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry I had to leave the meeting, but I had Dáil business to attend to. I heard all of the presentations and found them to be interesting and very informative. Obviously, with the review that we are conducting, from my perspective and for most of the committee members, we are very interested in supporting the regional airports in whatever way we can. Aviation is hugely important to the regions in terms of the distribution and support for industry, tourism and general economic activity. On a number of occasions I have stated that I find it difficult to understand why we are currently talking about the development and expansion of Dublin Airport when the likes of Shannon and Cork are underutilised. Obviously, the airlines have the slots and the connectivity. Representatives of Ryanair appeared before the committee and it is very supportive of the regions. I think three of the witnesses mentioned in their contributions how Ryanair is extremely important to their operations. Even Michael O'Leary has questioned the desirability of the distribution of passenger numbers from Dublin to Cork and Shannon in particular. However, I feel that it is important that there is a decentralisation of air traffic and that we should do whatever has to be done to incentivise it. Hopefully, we will include that in our report.

One of the witnesses mentioned the 75% cap in relation to capital projects, and the fact that the airports have to raise 25%. Obviously, for the small airports that is extremely difficult. That is something that we need to look at as well. The obvious issue is in relation to state aid. It is important that the threshold is increased to align us with the EU norm. I think that would be of benefit to all of the regional airports. I do not wish to hold proceedings up. I thank the witnesses for their presentations. We will be supportive of the airports.