Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)

At the outset I put on the record my warm support for this legislation which will establish the first full US preclearance facility in Shannon Airport, County Clare. New sources of growth will be required in any Irish economic recovery. This Bill, as a landmark in the development of Irish aviation, could offer the type of potential required for us to regain some of our international economic competitiveness. However, it will only happen if the facility at Shannon Airport is developed and marketed properly and not merely regarded as a conclusion to a process in itself.

This legislation should not be regarded by the powers-that-be as a conclusion to proper balanced regional development. It is the first step in beginning to redress the grotesque imbalance that has occurred between Dublin and Shannon, our two transatlantic airports, over the past number of years. Despite the fact that over one third of Irish economic activity takes place in the west of the country, Dublin Airport accounts for 78% of overall passenger activity, according to 2008 figures, and 75% of transatlantic passenger activity.

Shannon Airport's strategic geographical location offers enormous potential as a bridge between east and west for the future. This new facility at Shannon can realise the potential the region has in creating a link between many of the world's airlines and the USA. This can only happen if the Government goes back to its spatial strategy and produces more meaningful plans on regional development. The new preclearance facility in conjunction with the fact that Shannon is a 24/7 airport and maintains a competitive edge in fuel pricing, augurs well for the future of the region if attention is given by the Government to properly balanced regional development.

This legislation and the service it underpins must not just merely be a means to an end. It must not just be used as an excuse to keep the people of the mid-west and the west on-side and happy for a short period of time. It must form the foundation for a new set of ideas, a new set of innovations and a new attitude towards properly balanced and sustainable regional development and not merely the "one for everybody in the audience" philosophy that has been the attitude towards regional development heretofore.

Transatlantic services have been historically important to Shannon Airport and by extension the economic potential of the mid-west and west regions. Transatlantic passengers have formed up to 21% of all traffic through Shannon Airport. Transatlantic numbers through Dublin Airport peaked in 2008 at 7.4% of all passengers through the airport. It is clear that euro for euro, transatlantic activity has a much more significant impact on the future of Shannon and the mid-west region than it does for Dublin. The introduction of open skies last year has had a profound effect on the ability of an airport such as Shannon to survive and contribute as the engine of properly balanced economic regional development. The preclearance facility proposed will offer Shannon an effective marketing tool for the future.

I hope we do not have a repeat of the marketing budget fiasco of last year's post-open skies plan when an initial €53 million promise became a more modest €5 million reality. Since the introduction of open skies in March 2008, the increase in transatlantic passenger numbers through Dublin almost matches the decrease in Shannon. In the interests of proper and effective regional development the State cannot allow this pattern continue. The Government may try to absolve itself of its responsibilities, claim no jurisdiction and generally stand back as it did on the Shannon-Heathrow service but it must in the future, if any lessons have been learnt, take a more progressive and interactive approach towards ensuring sustainable regional development. This preclearance facility is a small but significant step forward. It can, if marketed and sold properly, offer an opportunity for Shannon and the greater region.

It is time the Minister got real on the €10 travel tax introduced in the recent budget. This tax is having a devastating effect on Shannon Airport. Ryanair has effectively halved its service. It used to have six aeroplanes based in Shannon and now has only three. A €10 charge represents a 100% tax on the average Ryanair winter fare out of Shannon. I appeal to the Minister to re-examine the €10 travel tax, to walk away. He should make it more equitable by making it a percentage of the air fare. It is not right that he subjects the cost-sensitive traveller to this. He is driving much needed business away from Shannon.

Why not call Ryanair's bluff if the Minister does not believe it will restore these aeroplanes and routes if the travel tax is axed? Governments across Europe, in Belgium for example, quickly withdrew their travel tax because of the negative impact it was having on their tourism trade. There was a similar experience in the Netherlands. Ireland is an island nation that depends heavily on air navigation to support our tourist market and business interests. We can ill afford a travel tax. In the interest of balanced regional development, and in the interest of Shannon Airport, the Minister should withdraw this tax. He cannot tax the airline industry out of recession. I again ask the Minister to remove this devastating tax before it causes further damage to our tourism industry.

The Government should seriously examine broader connectivity issues for Shannon regarding rail links with Limerick city and consequentially the national rail network. The Government must work on improving infrastructure. We have to pull up our socks regarding broadband throughout the region and improve our road network and sea ports, and all the measures that can get people and goods moving quickly. That is very important. This is what makes for a very attractive base for foreign direct investment, from which Shannon and the mid-west region has benefited greatly in the recent past and through the decades. As we found out last week, the Government has allowed this aspect of its management to slide with disastrous consequences.

I do not in any way want to be negative about this legislation but it merely offers Shannon, at most, an 18-month competitive advantage over Dublin. We can see from the published Dublin Airport Authority figures the manner in which Dublin Airport is slowly undermining Shannon. I make no apology about the fact that Shannon Airport, as an engine for a significant region of the country, needs the Government to ensure that it is properly served from a supporting infrastructure point of view. The issue of autonomy for the Shannon Airport Authority will and should come onto the political agenda. It is outrageous that Shannon Airport must always have one eye looking towards Dublin and the DAA, which to all intents and purposes is its competitor, before it can make a decision.

Shannon has always had to fight its corner. The calibre of men such as the late Dr. Brendan O'Regan and the now retired Mr. Liam Skelly of Aer Rianta, have ensured that despite external pressures, Shannon has always been a centre of innovation regarding air travel and associated economic activity. The current management team, led by Mr. Martin Moroney and supported by both the airport authority and Shannon Development can, if properly backed up in an unambiguous manner by the Government, build on this new development for Shannon Airport and the wider region. I welcome this legislation.

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