Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I echo what has been stated in respect of the necessity of balanced regional development. The lack of balanced regional development was very much a theme that emerged under the previous Government of which the Minister was a member. Before the entire economy went into a tailspin we saw significant inequality develop between the eastern seaboard and the rest of the country. There was an example of that at Shannon Airport when it lost not just passenger share, but passengers in absolute terms, while Dublin Airport powered ahead.

I do not know whether to welcome the fact that the Minister is setting up a task force because its outcome will very much be determined by its membership and its terms of reference. If he is going to appoint people to it along the lines of those who persuaded him that making Fingal County Council the noise regulator for Dublin Airport and that it could somehow be independent in that regard, I do not have much hope for it. If it is to be comprised of the people who persuaded him that a third terminal at Dublin Airport was a good idea while the terminals at Cork Airport and, to an even greater extent, Shannon Airport lay empty, and that a second runway at Dublin Airport was essential even though there is a second runway at Shannon Airport and the first runway is not utilised, much less the second, then I do not have much hope for it. However, I hope there are people in this country - and there are a multitude of people internationally - who could be appointed to the task force and made responsible for developing a balanced aviation policy that is good for the entire country and not just for Dublin. Residents of north County Dublin have had a second runway put in, the flights to which are literally going over their heads. Dublin Airport is actively trying to change its planning conditions to ensure flights can come in at night time over the heads of those residents, who do not want them, whereas Shannon was a 24-hour airport - it has temporarily stopped 24-hour operations. I urge that the task force ensure that is a temporary measure and that it will return to being a 24-hour airport.

Aer Lingus and Shannon Airport have had a particular relationship going back years and it has never been a comfortable one.

There has always been a suspicion at Shannon Airport that Aer Lingus's sole priority is Dublin Airport. Indeed, I sat in on a transport committee meeting when the sale of the State's 25% shareholding was being discussed in 2015, and Willie Walsh very much admitted that Dublin Airport was going to be its priority. In fairness, he did not mislead anybody; he said Dublin Airport would be the priority and Dublin Airport has been the priority of Aer Lingus.

I accept that the airline sector is in trouble everywhere, not just in Dublin, in Shannon or in Ireland. Aer Lingus is a private entity, as the Minister said. I noted his almost Freudian slip when he said the problem is that it is a private entity. It is amazing what a tenure in government can do to one's perspective on matters like that. Aer Lingus is now exclusively a private entity, which is because of decisions made by successive Governments. People who supported the sale of the 25% shareholding, including from my own county, are now crying crocodile tears, when this was the inevitable consequence. There are also people who did not support it at the time, because they never had to vote on it, but who are certainly members of a party that supported the sale of Ireland's shareholding in Aer Lingus which reduced it from 80% to 25% in 2006.

While I am not ideologically opposed to the privatisation of some companies, we are an island nation and we are uniquely dependent on our connectivity. It now appears that the sale of the State's shareholding in Aer Lingus was as strategically short-sighted as the sale of the State's shareholding in Eir, or Eircom as it was then. We have had all this brouhaha about developing a broadband infrastructure and whether it will be public or private. Of course, we have an appalling level of customer care from Eir for its existing customers, who are the majority of people in Ireland, because there is absolutely no State shareholding and very little control that the Government can exercise.

I ask the Minister, if he is setting up a task force, to make sure it is fair and it looks at fifth freedom rights, so that we do not have people flying from, say, Addis Ababa into Dublin and on to Los Angeles. The Government has complete control over fifth freedom rights, which are not covered by open skies. It could say such people need to go to Shannon Airport in circumstances where we need to limit the number of people congregating, perhaps unnecessarily, in Dublin Airport when Shannon Airport could desperately do with the traffic. I also ask him to ensure the task force looks at the possibility of testing not just passengers coming into the country but also, perhaps, passengers going out. We already have a big customs pre-clearance facility at Shannon Airport, just as we have a physically smaller one in Dublin Airport. It might be possible to persuade the federal authorities in North America to open up to European passengers who have already tested negative for Covid-19. It may become the gateway from Europe for passengers to North America. Shannon Airport needs a shot in the arm, particularly now there is no State connection and it is solely reliant on passenger numbers to determine whether or not Aer Lingus stays there. Sometimes one thinks that it is not just about passenger numbers and that when the airline has had to choose between a flight in Dublin and a flight in Shannon, it has always preferred Dublin.

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