Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)

We are fortunate in this country to have four well-resourced international airports. We have Dublin, Cork, Shannon and Ireland West Knock, all of which are growing. As regards Shannon in particular, and I have met the management team from Shannon, the airport has capacity for up to 10 million passengers without any requirement for any significant infrastructural changes there.

Our national aviation policy dates back to 2015 and we have commenced a review of it. I will bring forward a new national aviation policy that will look in the round at how aviation is managed within this country. That is the vehicle for us to effect changes and to discuss changes. Some have portrayed this as growing the other airports at the expense of Dublin. It is not. Already the projections for Dublin this year are that there will be more than 36 million passengers, and soon there will be more than 40 million, but we are also seeing Shannon and Cork grow. I would like to see Shannon grow by more. The management team there is engaging with the airline sector. It has a big role in this too to try to go after routes, but I see the national aviation policy as a vehicle to be able to point to that need for regional balance as well, not at the expense of anyone. We are ambitious for our future as a country. We are looking at new routes and new markets being opened. People are travelling more as well. That balance is required. It has nothing to do with the airport cap. I have been very clear that I want the cap removed, and we are working on that. Next week or the week after, we should have the decision on the night flights in Dublin. Just because that is being done does not mean we should not do anything else with Shannon, Cork or Ireland West.