Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair for allowing me in. I have a few points to make, one of which goes back to what other committee members have said regarding regional airports. We have a very successful airport in Cork, but we have no direct flight from Cork to Dublin or Cork to Belfast. To me that is a huge weakness in connectivity, especially for people travelling here as tourists or for business. We have a number of major international firms and global firms in Cork, but there is no connectivity. I contacted the DAA about putting on flights from Cork to Dublin for next Sunday's match. People will say that is very parochial but we have a serious lack of public transport. The trains were at a maximum. We only have one additional bus at a time when we could transport people to Dublin. The DAA confirmed it had space for charter flights if we could get charter flights to carry the people to Dublin. I contacted a number of airlines to see if they were willing to do it and none of them came back to me. There should be direct flights between Cork and Dublin and Cork and Belfast. When there are significant events, it should be possible to bring in charter flights to carry the people to those events, such as next Sunday. Regarding Cork's connectivity and the provision of a service between Cork and Dublin, do the witnesses have a comment on that?