Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am not a member of the committee. I appreciate the Acting Chair facilitating my contribution. Ireland West Airport Knock is my local airport. Mr. Gilmore and his team there have been doing a fantastic job. I commend and congratulate the team on securing the Heathrow route. There is great excitement about it. It opens up so many possibilities not just for Mayo but for the entire region to have that connection to an international hub. Credit to the team because it is a great win and a coup. The opportunities are endless. My question is in the same vein, around new routes. I know the witnesses have dealt with the issue previously. We have great connectivity to many of the key European countries that people in the west want to travel to on holiday and for work, but we are missing a French connection. I would love to see a connection from Knock into France. Shannon added routes to Marseilles and Paris in the past year. That is great for the region, but I think there is an opportunity for a route going to somewhere in the Normandy area. That is the gap in connectivity for the region. My question is on route development and how we can help advance that for the airport in Knock.

On supporting services, car hire has been mentioned. What do we need to advance public transport connectivity in the next five to ten years? The airport is quite a distance from some of the main towns and I think the witnesses will agree that the bus service could be better. What else can we do on that front?

In terms of working with other airports, obviously Shannon is a big driver. We have seen the catastrophe that Dublin Airport has been over the last few years in terms of service to passengers - or lack thereof - and queues, etc.. Many people started to look at alternative ways of travelling. Sometimes we can get a bit lazy and just search for flights from Dublin to wherever, but I think the problems have shone a light on how well some of the regional airports are working and the ease of travel through them. I flew through Shannon a couple of times last year. I will always look to Knock first, because it is my closest airport. Travelling through Knock or Shannon is a different experience to Dublin in terms of the ease of getting through the airport. When you get to Dublin Airport you are almost anxious and nervous about trying to get through the place. The gate is often ten miles down the road, you are trying to carry bags and it can be a nightmare, whereas with Shannon and Knock you are nearly parking at the gate. It is a pleasure to travel through the airports. There is too much air traffic going through Dublin. We need to re-balance that out to our regional airports. What can we do in terms of aviation policy to try to assist that happening? Is it just about launching a campaign to highlight the routes that are already there, or do we need to more than that?