Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle's office for selecting this issue. I tabled it because a direct commercial air route between Ireland and Asia would open up further opportunities for the creation of jobs and investment in the country and, in particular, add to our tourism potential. Deputies may recall that when Ireland qualified for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, Aer Lingus offered charter flights to Tokyo and thousands of people went over to follow the national team. Unfortunately, a permanent route never took hold. In recent years we have seen great progress in Ireland's aviation industry. We have a state-of-the-art second terminal in Dublin airport from where one can fly to more destinations than ever before.

Our national carrier has flights to multiple destinations in the United States and North America. It has direct routes to large metropolitan areas and hubs such as Atlanta, Charlotte, Washington DC, Philadelphia and others and is adding San Francisco shortly. Seasonal routes have been in place to some Canadian cities, in particular, Toronto, for a number of years. Because of the number of carriers and options, people in Ireland have never had any problem reaching the United States and North America. We also have direct links to the Middle East. Emirates runs a daily service to Dubai and its sister airline, Etihad Airways, serves Abu Dhabi, both in the United Arab Emirates, yet we do not have a direct commercial air route between Ireland and the most populated continent on the planet. It has been identified time and again that such a route to an Asian city could be of significant potential to the economy.

Trade between Ireland and China is worth approximately €8 billion annually. Last year when the then Vice President, Xi Jinping, visited Ireland, it created major interest in China in the same way that US first lady Michelle Obama's visit to Ireland, including Glendalough, created major interest in America. On becoming President, he issued an invitation to the Ceann Comhairle to bring over a delegation, of which I was a member, earlier this year when we had an opportunity to meet him and other senior administrators in the Chinese Government. It is obvious that there is major potential in China alone, not to mention the other countries around it such as Indonesia and Thailand. Since the Dáil last sat in July, three Government Ministers have been on trade missions to China, increasing awareness in the Chinese business community of Ireland's potential as an investment location. We visited several Irish companies which have a big presence in China, the global headquarters of one of which remains in Cork and which could see major potential in further business development there. Our ambassador to China, Mr. Declan Kelleher, who has just finished an eight year term is a fluent Mandarin speaker and has done Trojan work in developing Chinese-Irish relationships.

We must continue to support the development of an innovation-friendly, pro-competition regulatory framework for aviation if Ireland is to be successful in our endeavours. We must continue to encourage new entrants to the Irish aviation sector. We have a state-of-the-art Terminal 2. As neither terminal is overstretched, they could accommodate more capacity.

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