Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to go back to the point I made a short while ago, lest it be misconstrued. A few months ago, I floated this idea and within an hour, the DAA had issued a press release to the effect that I was ridiculously suggesting that there be a Shannon stopover. I know that cannot happen. That would be illegal, ludicrous and contrary to EU law. No one is talking about winding back the dial, going back to the 1980s and 1990s, and forcing airlines coming in from the United States to touch down in Shannon and then fly on to Dublin. That is not in question. What is in question is the current imbalance we have. It is 84% Dublin, with everyone else vying for the scraps, including Shannon in my constituency. That is wrong. It is not just about what takes off and lands in the airport but about everything else. A total of 30 million people touch down in Dublin each year, which puts colossal pressure on the road, rail and bus network, from the minute you step out the door of the terminal.

If we are to have proper regional development, it is not just landing slots but everything that the airport involves. It even goes down to tourism. We have seen in the last few years, though I will not name the companies, the day-tripping tourist coaches that come to the west coast of Ireland. The iconic stops like Bunratty Castle are now being advertised as photo stops, so the days of people coming to Ireland and having this quality, west of Ireland vacation, then going to Dublin for a few days, are gone. It is totally reversed. It is capital city-based and unsustainable. They come for the day trip to Dingle, Killarney, County Clare, maybe Connemara and back to Dublin again. We will have to write the policy but we are asking the IAA to be more cognisant of Ireland Inc. and our goals and aspirations being more regionally balanced and developed.

The next line of questioning I want to take relates to radar infrastructure. How much of the transatlantic air travel in the Shannon-Prestwick corridor of flights, known as Shanwick, goes over the Woodcock Hill radar? The IAA referred to some percentage some months ago.