Ms Miriam Ryan:

As a County Cork woman, perhaps I should take some of the Deputy's questions on the Cork side. Over the period 2015 to 2019, we increased traffic at Cork Airport by 30%. It was one of the fastest-growing airports last year. In fact, it was the fastest-growing airport in Ireland last year. Unfortunately, the Covid situation has dealt Cork Airport a really significant blow.

We have, therefore, particularly in our submission, made the call for assistance for Cork Airport. This call relates to some of the capital projects that are required at the airport in order to ensure that it can continue to operate safely and securely. Particular investments are required in hold baggage screening, which is a regulatory requirement. There is a big price tag associated with that. Cork is the only airport that has not had State support in the provision of this infrastructure. Cork also requires support over the next while for investment in runway overlay. There is a very high price tag associated with that as well. There are opportunities under state aid rules to allow for capital investment to be made, via the regional airports programme, at smaller airports. We would certainly like to see that for Cork. There will also be a big programme of work required to regrow the business at Cork Airport. We have specifically sought assistance with some of the investment that would be required to provide incentives and marketing support in respect of the development of new routes and regrowing that business over the next while.

On testing, there has been a lot of talk about it however it is very challenging to do it on arrival at airports. There are many challenges with regard to space for in which to hold passengers. In other words, where to keep them while they are being tested. There are issues regarding the availability of the reagents required for polymerase chain reaction, PCR, testing and also with the availability of suitably-qualified staff to undertake that testing. As such, there are a lot challenges in the context of testing on arrival. That is why we focused in our submission on the opportunities that there might be to carry out testing before the passenger leaves his or her home country. We certainly think those opportunities are worth exploring further. Thus, the first line of defence will be testing on exit so that passengers who arrive here have already been tested and can show to the airline that they have been tested. They will have certificates to show they are being tested and that they can also present that to the staff of the border management unit at the airports and ports on arrival to show they have already been tested. We are seeing that happening now at airports in a number other countries, including Austria. Authorities in Hawaii and Alaska in the United States are putting in place pre-testing requirements and we are now seeing this for some of the airlines that are operating out of Dublin into Abu Dhabi, for example. There is absolute merit in looking at that. It is something we have brought to the attention of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.