Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

An bhfuil? Ní raibh fios agam go raibh an oiread sin ama agam. Mar a bhí á rá agam roimh an sos, sílim gur margadh é seo atá déanta ag an Rialtas, agus ag an Aire, a rachaidh chun sochair go mór ní hamháin do Aer Lingus ach don tír ina hiomláine. Tá aithne, meas agus urraim againn go léir dá Aer Lingus, an córas eitilte náisiúnta a chothaigh meas an phobail le blianta fada anuas. Tá sé iontach tábhachtach in san chonradh atá déanta go leanfaidh Aer Lingus ar aghaidh faoin ainm céanna agus go mbeidh sé ábalta an caighdeán céanna a chur ar fáil a bhí á chur ar fáil aige ar feadh na mblianta. Is rud an-mhaith ar fad, dá réir an méid eolais atá againn, ní hamháin go mbeidh na postanna atá ansin ag leanúint ar aghaidh ach go mbeidh breis postanna eagraithe - 600 nó 650 post idir seo agus 2020. Ar ndóigh, cuirfimid go léir an-fháilte roimh é sin chomh maith.

Mar a dúirt mé, rachaidh sé seo chun sochair don tír mar go bhfuilimid ag brath ar Aer Lingus chun daoine a thabhairt isteach ó thaobh na heacnamaíochta, an ghnó agus, go speisialta, na turasóireachta de. When this motion came before the House, I considered whether I should speak to it or not, but I decided I should because even in Donegal we have close associations with Aer Lingus. We have Stobart Air, which operates the regional franchise for Aer Lingus as far as Donegal is concerned. I do not know what the situation is in Kerry, but perhaps it is the same there although I am not sure. I acknowledge the decision of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport towards the end of last year to extend the public service obligation, PSO, scheme to Donegal Airport for another three years. It will be a great help to the people of Donegal from a business, industry and commerce point of view. It is an excellent service. It was operated by Flybe but it was taken over by Stobart Air in February. As a regular user, I must compliment it on the service. It provides a good service twice a day from Donegal to Dublin. It saves a person four hours by road and the trip can be managed in about 40 or 45 minutes. It is providing an excellent service and it is so important from the point of view of the economy of Donegal. I admit I am being parochial and regional, but this ought to be acknowledged for the people of Donegal. I see the effect regularly. Every morning people come up to Dublin on the eight o'clock flight. They may have business in Dublin or are going to hospital. They get the flight back at seven o'clock in the evening at a reasonable price. I acknowledge the Minister's decision to approve that scheme for another three years.

There is one little thing I wish to bring to the Minister's attention, and I suppose the best of services do have glitches. This happened on 21 May and I have had a number of e-mails about it. Perhaps the Minister was informed, I think he was. A passenger on the particular flight went to Donegal. It was not possible to land that evening. An attempt was made but they had to come back to Dublin and they arrived about nine or ten o'clock. They were quite a number of passengers, some of whom had been discharged from hospital that evening. They arrived in Dublin about nine or ten o'clock and they were told they had two options. They could take a bus or a coach or some such transport by road that would be arranged that evening to bring them back to Donegal. Some of them availed of it and arrived in Donegal about 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. the following morning. Those who were in hospital or had been discharged that day found it difficult. After being discharged from hospital and an operation or some other procedure, it may not be the best thing to tell people to go on a bus to travel for three or four or five hours to west Donegal. I would have thought, as my constituent said, that perhaps, in a case such as that, arrangements should be made to give them overnight accommodation in Dublin adjacent to the airport so that they could avail of the following day's flight, but that was not available. Not alone was it not available, but there was no one there from Stobart Air at that particular time to arrange anything for them, except the staff of Aer Lingus. Perhaps this point could be considered in such cases.

As I say, this deal is an excellent arrangement and it is significant that all the other airports such as Shannon and Cork airports have welcomed this particular agreement with IAG. It will allow Aer Lingus to do what it has been doing for many years and it will provide extra connectivity. A person can leave Donegal, put his or her case on board, and retrieve it in Los Angeles, California, San Francisco or elsewhere without handling it. When the association with IAG is formalised, as I hope it will be, a person will be able to go to probably any part of the world without having to handle baggage and going through different securities and so on.

I acknowledge the work the Minister has put into this deal. He has been very patient. It is to the good of Aer Lingus and its continuation and to the good of the country. I remember the first time I ever flew with Aer Lingus. It was late in my life. I remember coming to Dublin Airport. I was just going to London, but an ordinary flight to London at that time cost me £154. That was in 1982, 1983 or 1984. In present day money, that would probably be near €1,000. Things have changed a lot since then. Efficiencies have been introduced in Aer Lingus and Ryanair is on the scene as well. We should acknowledge what it has done to bring in competition. At that time it was the preserve of the very wealthy to travel to London by aeroplane but it is available to everyone now. It is a good thing and I compliment the Minister on it and thank him for the PSO scheme in Donegal airport. I hope this deal goes through; it is only good for Aer Lingus and this country.

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