Dáil debates

Tuesday, 24 April 2007

Air Transport Agreement: Motion

 

11:00 pm

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I worked as a tourism operator for ten or 12 years prior to the decision of the electorate at the last election. We brought many tourists to the west and south-west and many came through Shannon Airport. One of the telephone calls I always dreaded was someone asking how they could get to Killarney or Westport. I had to tell them they could not get there on the same day because there was no public transport connection between Shannon and Killarney or Westport to allow travel on the same day. This was the reality for a tour operator trying to develop high value good product tourism in the west.

The representatives of the people of Shannon and the mid-west region are right to be worried about the changes. Shannon is not just competing with Frankfurt or other European airports but it is also competing with Dublin and Cork because the Government made a strategic decision to set those airports in competition against each other. There is a real question about the future viability of a lot of the industries in the regions and the long-term development of Shannon Airport if the direct connections are lost.

What can be done to save that? For a tour operator the first thing needed is proper public transport connections so that people flying into the region can travel from Shannon to their destination, be it Killarney, Galway, Clare or wherever. I would commence by putting in place a high-speed, high-quality rail connection from Dublin to Shannon. Dublin Deputies might then be in a position to state that Dublin Airport is not working properly, that it is overcrowded and that rather than expanding it further, people who live in reasonably close proximity to Shannon should be encouraged to access Shannon Airport via a high-speed, high-quality rail link that will enable them to get in and out of Ireland quickly. With its over-capacity, Shannon Airport could be a good location if we had a high speed rail connection right to the door.

I agree with Deputy O'Sullivan that the Minister's attitude is to attempt to trivialise the issue of providing proper connections.

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