Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle as an ábhar seo a roghnú le haghaidh na díospóireachta anocht.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for choosing this Topical Issue. The Minister of State is familiar with, and I am aware she has met, the management and directors of Ireland West Airport Knock. I know she is fully aware of the situation currently faced by the airport. When one thinks that in 2019 some 807,000 people travelled through Knock airport, this year, at very best, there will be 170,000. That will be a much harder figure to reach now given the decision by Ryanair last week to, effectively, shut down almost all of its winter services, bar seven. Ryanair took that decision as a consequence of not being able to deal with the current travel restrictions. That is a different row. I want to focus on the airport.

Last week in the budget, which we welcomed, allocations were given specifically to Shannon and Cork airports because of the particular cash flow difficulties in protecting the cash balances at those regionally based airports. However, we have not been able to get any detail as to how much money will be given from the regional airports programme to Ireland West Airport Knock and to Donegal and Kerry airports.

The regional airports programme is traditionally run successfully and its support for regional airports is welcome. The Minister of State must accept, however, that this year it is not fit for purpose in a Covid-19 environment. Our regional airports do not have any non-core income this year. Their car parking and retail income is destroyed and, unfortunately, the employment they give to hundreds of families across County Mayo has been absolutely hammered this year. Staff who were laid off completely when the airport was fully closed are now on short-time work. While they have the support of the previous temporary wage subsidy scheme, TWSS, now called the employee wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, and the rates remission scheme, it will not be enough to sustain the future of the airport.

We cannot wait for the 2021 regional airports programme. There needs to be a special allocation for 2020 extraordinary losses that will sustain cash flow and allow the airport to prepare itself for 2021. I do not know what the travel forecasts are for 2021. The Minister of State might be more privy to that information. They do not look very encouraging from this vantage point but we cannot turn our backs on Ireland West Airport Knock and we cannot stick our heads in the sand and hope it will survive.

In 1986, the week the airport opened, The Western Peopleheadline stated that it could not be done. It was done because of people power. It was done in spite of tremendous opposition at the time from the permanent government. We must regain that spirit. There was irony in the coverage by the Irish Examinerat the weekend of the troubles of Cork Airport that summoned up the spirit of the late Monsignor Horan in defending Cork Airport. That is what we need from the Minister of State. We need that spirit. We need that sense that it can and will be done in 2020.

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