Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputies Mattie McGrath and Michael Collins for sharing their time with me. Since Deputy Michael Healy-Rae is not present, I will share my time with Deputy Danny Healy-Rae.

I thank Deputy McNamara for tabling this timely motion. Deputies have stated that this is not a fight between Dublin Airport and the rest of the country's airports, but it is. Pre-Covid, 33 million people travelled through Dublin Airport, 1.8 million through Shannon Airport and 2.3 million through Cork Airport. There are also Knock, Galway and Kerry airports. Dispersing a percentage of Dublin's traffic is the only way we will make our airports sustainable. Some 60,000 people are depending on Shannon Airport - 15,000 directly, 45,000 indirectly. If Dublin Airport wants to expand, a percentage of those travelling through it must be dispersed to the other airports. We would then not have to prop up the other airports year in and year out. They are unsustainable currently because everything is being shoved into Dublin.

The green agenda is in the programme for Government, but the airways of Dublin are being poisoned because of the traffic of 33 million people. The overall number should be broken down. How many people who fly into Dublin come down to Clare, Limerick and beyond into Kerry for their holidays? The Government goes on about the environment, but we all have a green agenda and the Government is closing the other airports and poisoning people in Dublin. The Green Party is responsible for this situation and can change it. Disperse 20% of Dublin Airport's 33 million travellers to the other airports. That would bring Shannon and Cork airports to 3.5 million each and all the other airports to sustainable levels. Stop poisoning the airways in Dublin and putting all traffic into Dublin. Doing so would free up our motorways. One cannot get into or out of Dublin.

There is a major problem in Shannon. The Government can fix it by telling Dublin Airport that it cannot expand unless 20% of its traffic goes to other airports. In that way, all of our airports would be sustainable.

What has the Government got that the Independents do not? Just like the Government, we have legal people, teachers and so on, but we also number self-employed people who know how to run a business. If the Government listens to the Independents, we might be able to teach it something about how to make all businesses in Ireland sustainable.

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