Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail)
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It is my slot now and I have a few points.

Sometimes we in Ireland think Ryanair started here and is our airline, which it is, but, equally, we forget just how gigantic it is now. It flies more than half a million people, a day, every day. It is the biggest airline, as Mr. O'Leary said, in Portugal, Italy, Spain, Poland, Ireland, obviously, and, I am sure, lots of other countries. Next week, we will have the DAA before the committee, the following week we will have the Minister and the week after that we will have the Minister again, so it is timely that Mr. O'Leary is here first, and we can certainly take on board some of his points with both the DAA and the Minister in the coming weeks, even though the Minister will not be here to discuss aviation. Once he is in the room, we will still be able to question him. I said to the DAA representatives the last time they were here that by the time it got the permission for 40 million passengers, based on what we are looking at, its figures would be at 40 million anyway if it did not have a cap. I asked if they should be looking at a mid-term strategy of 60 million passengers and looking to apply for 60 million rather than 40 million. I asked if the 40 million is a bit like Berlin airport or somewhere, where it was over capacity the day it opened. That is a question the witnesses might give their thoughts on.

I equally wonder about Ryanair's analysis of the DAA. It has been quite critical of it in the past, but could it be a lot more efficient? If Mr. O'Leary were in the position of Kenny Jacobs, what would he do? I know he probably would not take the job based on where he is now, but if he had that job, what would he do as the DAA chief executive? Equally, if he were the Minister for Transport, what would he like to do to enhance growth? I had never heard before that 65% of Ryanair's traffic is inbound. That is all tourism, basically. That is bringing money into the country and bringing tourists all over the island. They are staying in accommodation and spending money in pubs, restaurants, shops and so on. Obviously, we all have a mindset whereby we use Ryanair to go on our holidays, to go on business or whatever. Does he think that the growth just was not seen and that the DAA thought it would never hit this cap? Is that the reason it did nothing? Equally, as regards the DAA and the Dublin Airport campus long-term, should all the growth be in terminal 1 and terminal 2 or is there any scope for this third terminal concept, which has been talked about quite a lot? That might necessitate the tunnel that Mr. O'Leary says is unnecessary if that were ever to happen. What are his thoughts on a third terminal?

That will probably keep the witnesses going for a while.