Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad for this opportunity and thank Deputy McNamara for tabling this important motion. Money has been announced for regional airports. I hope that Kerry Airport, which is under the stewardship of Mr. John Mulhern and his staff, most of whom are not working currently, gets a fair cut of this money.

Shannon Airport is on its knees. It has been a transatlantic airport for many years, but that has been greatly reduced as a result of the cancelling of the compulsory stopover. Previously, Deputies and Governments knew the benefit of the compulsory stopover. Since it was taken away, all air traffic has gone to Dublin. This has happened at the direction of Fáilte Ireland, which is not selling Shannon Airport properly. We now hear that a third terminal is to be built in Dublin. As has been pointed out, it will not even be good for Dublin. This is unfair. All that we in the west and rural Ireland - places like Kerry, Limerick, Clare and Cork - want is a fair cut. We are not selfish, but it is like modern Governments and Dublin Deputies are focused on Dublin and Dublin only.

I have been calling for testing at airports since the start. Where is the quarantining that was meant to be done by people travelling from other countries? It has not been happening. We are putting people in rural Ireland under pressure. The other day, we were told by Dr. Holohan that there would be no drinking in pubs this Christmas. That is a kind of dictatorship, yet at the same time we will open up air travel without knowing what effect doing so will have on people around the country.

I am calling for connectivity for the people of Kerry and the western counties. It is only right that we get a fair cut and that the people of rural Ireland get a fair deal. They have not been getting one in recent times. Even before the coronavirus, Shannon Airport was on its knees and Kerry Airport had been struggling. Fáilte Ireland has not been selling our regional airports at all. Cork Airport is another airport that is vital to the people of Kerry. All we want is a fair cut, but we have not been getting one from this or recent Governments.

See this speech in context