Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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Mr. Geoghegan and Mr. Cullinane are very welcome. I congratulate Mr. Cullinane on his appointment as group head of communications and I wish him well. He served the DAA and Cork Airport with distinction during his tenure in Cork. In filling the shoes of Paul O'Kane, who we thank for his service, Mr. Geoghegan has appointed a very good person.

The Chairman will not be surprised if I wear a parochial hat for a while. Notwithstanding the very refreshing opening statement by Mr. Geoghegan, which recognised that Dublin is the largest revenue engine for the DAA, it is important that arising from today's meeting we have a full debate on aviation policy with the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton. I found Mr. Geoghegan's opening statement brilliant. Let me add that I woke up this morning to what he said on "Morning Ireland", which was challenging, but we will come back to that. I have every confidence in Mr. Geoghegan. I have watched him in his role and he is doing a good job. He has steered the DAA through the crisis and will now steer it, hopefully, on to recovery. As chair of the board, he is very committed, along with the board, to the regrowth of aviation as evidenced by his opening statement and his actions.

From a Cork perspective, and Mr. Geoghegan alluded to it in his opening statement, I thank the DAA for its investment of more than €40 million in Cork, including the runway, electrical substation, hold baggage screening and capital projects. Unlike what was said on "Prime Time" last week, it is not a maintenance job but a €40 million project that will need significant investment in the future. In the context of the appointment of Mr. Cullinane as the group head of communications at the DAA, I ask that the board fills the vacancy in Cork immediately. We need a communications manager in Cork Airport to sell and promote it. I hope this role will not be subsumed into part of the DAA because Mr. Cullinane did a tremendous job in Cork and we need that job filled as soon as possible.

I was a reluctant participant in Cork staying within the DAA, but I am now glad it is there. I say that as someone who pushed for Cork's separation from it. We are better placed within the DAA. We have become the fastest growing, and the second largest, airport in the country with 1 million more passengers than Shannon, but that is not what today is about. The Cork Airport Development Council has played a pivotal role in our airport. I am disappointed that the DAA has nobody from Cork on its board with the exception of one worker-director, Eric Nolan, who is doing a tremendous job. It is imperative that a representative from the region of Cork is on the board of the DAA. Mr. Geoghegan knows the numbers who are on the board. We have been well served in the past by Pádraig Ó Ríordáin, Ann-Marie O'Sullivan and, in recent times, Gerry Walsh. They are people of calibre and stature. It is incredible there is no one from Cork on the board. I know it is not Mr. Geoghegan's fault, but I ask that he supports my call that there would be personnel and people of suitable eminence from Cork on the board.

I will make two final points and come back at the end. Transatlantic routes worked with Norwegian Air. I hope that under European tenders we will see the return of transatlantic routes to Cork Airport. In the context of connectivity, we have had a major debate on public service obligation, PSO, levies in recent times. Under the cross-border aviation PSO in the Stormont Agreement, we should develop a Cork-Belfast route with a PSO attached. I ask for Mr. Geoghegan's support, and that of the board, in pursuit of that. If we are talking about connectivity on our island, then Cork-Belfast straddles both ends of the country and a Cork-Belfast route would be a tremendous asset to our airport. Will Mr. Geoghegan expand a little more on his comments on the issue of pricing and his remarks on the need for the Commission for Aviation Regulation, CAR, to make a regulatory decision?