Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I understand the notion of the Government setting out a broad aviation policy to apply to all airports in the State. A regulator is needed in a sector where there is no effective competition. Accordingly, the regulator adjudges and makes determinations to ensure a balance between the big and the small. I cannot understand, therefore, why the Minister or his Department would have found it necessary to issue a direction, a communication or a policy statement that got into the minute detail of the operational plans of one particular airport. I believe that is an overreaching of the Minister's and his Department’s powers. It is not just Ryanair, as Aer Lingus has indicated its concerns about the Government’s involvement in the day-to-day operations of Dublin Airport.

Will the Minister explain further why the Government wants to get involved in the minutiae of the operations of one particular airport rather than the sector in general, an area in which I believe the Government, of course, has a role in setting a broad framework?

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