Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will raise a number of transport issues with the Minister, particularly as they affect my home city of Limerick and the wider mid-west region. I will refer to the proposed northern distributor road and the road from Limerick to Cork but the two issues I want to focus on are the viability of Shannon Airport and the Limerick tunnel.

Shannon Airport, as the Minister will be well aware, is the heart that makes the economy of Limerick and Limerick West function. The viability of Shannon Airport is fundamental to the economic performance of the mid-west region. Unfortunately, since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the news emanating from the airport has rarely been positive. In fact, it has been disastrous. There have been threats by airlines to cut transatlantic routes. We also had the spectre of job losses and the near-complete collapse of the aviation industry in the State. On top of all this, we have warnings from Ryanair that it may close its base at Shannon over the winter months. In her report, Mid-west Economic Insights, Dr. Catriona Cahill highlighted that Shannon Airport contributes €3.6 billion to the regional economy and supports almost 55,000 jobs. All of this is at risk without strategic convention by the Government.

Beyond the aviation industry, the mid-west region is solely dependent on Shannon Airport. Industries have been established in the industrial parks around Limerick and Shannon and many did so based on the close location to a functioning international airport, with worldwide connections through Heathrow and Boston airports. It is bizarre that we have a region so heavily dependent on Shannon Airport, yet more than 90% of new airline routes are assigned to Dublin.

Given the plethora of negative news, it is clear the airport and, by extension, the mid-west region, are in a difficult place. I have been critical of the management of Shannon Airport in the past and, unfortunately, I have seen little from it since that gives me cause to change my mind.

In 2012, my party flagged the difficulties with separating Shannon Airport from the Dublin Airport Authority, DAA. Regrettably, our warnings were not heeded and our concerns have been borne out as legitimate. It is high time the Government recognised the folly of this move and took remedial action to bring control of Shannon Airport back under the canopy of the DAA.

I am hopeful the Minister will today provide a definite date for the completion and publication of the review of Shannon Group PLC. The report of the task force for aviation recovery was issued almost three months ago, yet we have seen no proposals from the Government. In this State,140,000 jobs are supported by the aviation sector. These people need clarity on their position. The Government must expedite the publication of this new aviation policy and the Shannon review report.

I will use my final minute to make some remarks about the Limerick tunnel. The tunnel is fantastic infrastructure that alleviates some of the traffic problems in the city but the initial estimate that it would take up to 20,000 cars daily from Limerick's streets has not been achieved. This is despite the tunnel having the capacity to accommodate 40,000 cars daily.

Since schools have returned, the constant theme on Limerick local radio and bulletins is traffic delays on the Condell Road and the Dock Road. Shannon Bridge gives immediate access to Condell Road and 15,000 vehicles cross the bridge daily from the north side of Limerick. Limerick City and County Council estimates that 10,000 of these turn right on to the Dock Road heading in the direction of Dooradoyle, Mungret and further afield. I mention this in reference to the Limerick tunnel because the tunnel should offer an alternative route for some of those vehicles. Further use of tunnel could and should alleviate traffic congestion across Limerick. The tunnel is underused for a myriad of reasons and I believe the chief among them is cost and location. We cannot change its location but perhaps we can do something about costs. My party advised at the commencement of its construction that it was too close to the city to build. It is wonderful infrastructure but it is of minimal use owing to its current configuration.

Has the effectiveness of Limerick tunnel been reviewed by the Department? How feasible would it be to reduce or remove the toll for the use of this roadway? The tunnel was designed as a remedy for traffic congestion in Limerick city at huge cost to the Exchequer. Unfortunately, it has not achieved that objective.

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