Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)

I am grateful for the opportunity to raise this important matter on the Adjournment and thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to do so. Knock is Ireland's fourth international airport serving up to 13 counties. Some 21 million passengers a year travel through airports in the south and east. Six million passengers travel through airports in Northern Ireland, which has almost the same population as the Border, midlands and west region. Knock Airport, however, with a projected figure of 500,000 passengers this year, is the starkest example of the failure to develop the BMW region. It is an example of unbalanced regional development and we are paying for it.

Knock Airport has a longer runway than Cork, yet it has been the poor relation for Government investments. The problem with Government funding to Knock International Airport is that it is tied to safety and security developments there. In the south and east, however, airport investment is directed to expanding the existing airports rather than just airport safety and security.

For years, Dublin has benefited from public sector support and is now capable of supporting substantial investment in other airports, such as Cork and Shannon. Knock has no such relationship with a large cash cow. Between now and 2007, an investment of €18 million is required at Knock to provide the airport with category 2 status which would greatly reduce any chance of plane diversions. It would also provide an expanded airport apron so there would be adequate space for large aircraft, such as the Airbus, which now use Knock Airport. This apron ensures aeroplanes with a fast turnaround time are not delayed, and, therefore, schedules are kept.

Geographically, Knock is strategically placed. It is less than a one hour drive from nine regional urban centres or gateways and is the only effective international airport for most of them. Traffic numbers at Knock Airport in January and February last grew by 101% compared to the same period last year. In the past six months two new Gatwick routes, a Liverpool route and a second Birmingham route have been added to the existing routes at the airport.

Despite this, the Government intends to provide a second terminal at Dublin Airport at a cost of €150 million, which is projected to suck in 38 million passengers by 2025 and will further congest Dublin, where traffic is already reduced to the pace of an ass and cart. Getting in and out of Dublin Airport will continue to be a total nightmare. This is madness while an international airport at Knock lies underdeveloped and under-utilised, with one 40th of the passenger numbers of Dublin Airport. It beggars belief and flies in the face of common sense, as well as contradicting Government policy on balanced regional development and the national development plan. Just to the north, Northern Ireland, of a similar size and population to the west, has six million passengers compared to 500,000 at Knock. It is estimated that 5,000 new jobs will be created due to the building of the second terminal. They should be located at Knock and in the BMW region, where net industrial output grew by only 3.7% annually between 1990 and 1997 compared to 12.7% gross nationally.

Bed nights in tourist accommodation are down by 20% in the west although tourist numbers rose by 6% nationally, a point confirmed in the House yesterday by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Deputy O'Donoghue, who suggested the drop was due to poor access. It is past time to end this madness. The development of Knock Airport is the answer to poor access and would do the congested Dublin Airport and its hinterland a favour. As new infrastructure would need to be put in place throughout Dublin to cope with increasing passenger numbers, rather than helping the situation a second terminal would only add to the imbalance and congestion that already exists. It is time to pull the plug and go for Knock.

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