M J Nolan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

I welcome this Bill and I commend all those involved in bringing it to this Stage. It was moved in the Seanad on 9 June and passed there on 16 June. It now comes before us for all Stages to be passed and I hope it enjoys the support of all parties in the House.

It is important to emphasise that the Minister and his Department succeeded in negotiating this agreement with the US authorities for the preclearance of passengers bound for the United States from Irish airports. It is positive to note the Bill, when enacted, will commence in Shannon Airport on 29 July before coming into effect when the new terminal opens in Dublin Airport early next year. It is critically important for the growth in traffic through Irish airports bound for the United States because we will be the only country in Europe with this facility. The Minister said he hoped this will increase traffic through the airport but apart from the airlines using Shannon and Dublin Airports, other airlines will notice passengers voting with their feet and when they see they can avail of this facility in an Irish airport it will attract a lot of attention. I hope it will get the publicity across Europe that it deserves.

Ireland and the US have a long history in aviation, going back to Alcock and Browne crash landing in Connemara, the flying boats in Foynes in County Limerick and Shannon becoming popular in the jet age as the closest point to the US. This legislation continues that relationship between the two countries and it is important to acknowledge that. I hope the recent decisions by Delta Airlines and Aer Lingus to suspend some of their winter flights from Shannon will be reversed. This undertaking by the authorities in Ireland and the US should lead to a review, if nothing else, of those decisions after the summer season.

Shannon Airport must play its part. I am not from the mid-west, I use Dublin Airport most frequently, and the congestion there is off-putting. Many people from the midlands and south prefer to use Shannon Airport if flights are available. It is unfortunate that there was such a delay with the construction of the new terminal at Dublin Airport. It was not until the latter stages of the economic boom that there was progress in this area. The airports should be self financing. They have a cash cow, a customer base they should use. That does not mean they should abuse that base. Some of the car parking charges in Dublin Airport were prohibitive and the authorities there abused their monopoly. It was only when competition entered the market and numbers using the car parks fell that they decided to cut prices.

In the past ten years there has been a significant increase in the volume of traffic through our regional airports. The Government, through the European Union, has been assisting these airports so they can survive because that would be impossible on a commercial basis. In that context I cannot understand why more serious thought was not given to the use of Baldonnel. The Department of Defence has invested significant amounts in the military aerodrome. It is near Dublin and has the potential to take some of the strain from Dublin Airport. There are models in Europe where military aerodromes are also used for civilian flights and the Minister should have a look at this in the future.

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