Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the enhancement of the preclearance service for passengers in Dublin Airport and especially in Shannon Airport. It is important to provide this facility for all passengers. Between 1.7 million and 1.9 million people use this facility when they take transatlantic flights across to the United States.

I would like to mention something that is a bugbear of mine. I suppose it does not relate to the actual motion. Maybe it relates slightly to it. We hear a lot of talk about a third terminal at Dublin Airport. At the same time, Shannon Airport has been downgraded. There is less activity at Shannon Airport than there was in years gone by. I wonder whether it is in the Minister of State's remit to try to help that situation. The people of County Kerry who use Shannon Airport frequently would like to see an enhancement of the airport rather than another terminal in Dublin, where there is so much resistance to noise. I believe motions dealing with that aspect of the matter are being advanced currently. We have never heard of any uproar or concern with regard to noise anywhere around Ennis or Shannon. Maybe the Minister of State will try to take some more of the business down to Shannon Airport, rather than putting all the pressure on Dublin Airport.

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