M J Nolan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

The Government decision last Wednesday to sell the majority shareholding in Aer Lingus, while retaining a substantial minority shareholding in the company, is a good and positive move for the company, Ireland and Irish aviation interests. We acknowledge that we cannot continue to keep our heads in the sand. The international aviation industry is such that companies move into profit, make substantial losses and return to profit. We acknowledge the role played by management and workers in Aer Lingus in recent years, particularly in the past two years, where it has gone from a state of almost bankruptcy to a substantial profit last year and the prospects of it making a profit this year are good.

I wish the company well in its new format. It is now able to attract substantial investment because of the fleet replacement it has to undertake. I am pleased Aer Lingus has adopted a policy of investing in Airbus aircraft. It is important that a small country such as Ireland flies the flag. As a good and loyal member of the European Union we should support Airbus because it is based in the European Union.

We should not lose sight of the fact that while we have three major airports, in Dublin, Shannon and Cork, we have six provincial airports, three of which are located in Waterford, Sligo and Donegal. Waterford airport is located on the southern side of Waterford city. While we can continue to invest Exchequer funding in regional airports such as Waterford we should seriously consider the possibility of relocating that airport. If it were placed on the north side of Waterford city it could service Waterford and Kilkenny cities. International airports in Europe and England — for example, Leeds-Bradford International Airport — service two cities. Before committing further capital funding to that airport it should be located somewhere between Waterford and Kilkenny, possibly in south Kilkenny. That would be a more viable option and would attract many more passengers.

People in the south east travel to Cork airport to avail of its facilities. If an airport were provided in a good location such as south Kilkenny it would be more profitable than in its present location.

We have not given sufficient time and energy to look at the opening of Baldonnel as a commercial airport. On the Continent, military airfields are used as civilian airports. Baldonnel is close to a rail link and the Naas dual carriageway, one of the main routes into the city. It would be of benefit to passengers from the southern area.

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