Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise the alarming fact of declining passenger market share being experienced at Shannon International Airport. The Minister of State will be aware that his Government in 2012 separated Shannon Airport from the Dublin Airport Authority. At the time, that policy decision was described by the Government as historic. The aim was to increase passenger numbers at Shannon to 2.5 million passengers per annum. The project has failed dismally. Passenger numbers have not reached anything near that figure. In fact, they are at just above half of it. We have had a number of airlines pull their routes from Shannon. Again yesterday, Ryanair pulled three routes. At the time of that decision, dissenting and questioning voices were rubbished by the Government and others. SIPTU raised very valid questions and the Taoiseach went so far as to say that it was a defeatist attitude. The facts speak for themselves. The market share of the Dublin Airport Authority in 2011 was 78% and it is now 86%. The market share of Shannon Airport in 2011 was 7% and it now stands at 4.4%. Can the Minister of State point to anything in either the programme for Government or legislation which will arrest the decline of Shannon Airport and other regional airports?

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