Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

Ryanair is one of the largest airlines in the world and has 231 aircraft. Aer Lingus, another excellent company, has only 45 aircraft. The difference in scale is massive. It would have been great had we attracted additional Ryanair business to Dublin Airport. I would fault the Minister and the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Coughlan, for not taking action in this regard. A year ago, Ryanair proposed to create 500 jobs at Dublin Airport. Now, however, those jobs have disappeared.

We have no control over Ryanair, which is the only airline that is creating jobs in the aviation industry.

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