Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The only announcement of new flight routes out of Ireland for the past 12 months have been out of Northern Ireland. Today, eight new routes were announced out of Belfast City Airport by Ryanair, which, along with Aer Lingus, has largely moved its operations out of this jurisdiction. In this State, we have had only base closures and flight route cancellations. Is any of this ringing alarm bells for the Government? Is the Tánaiste concerned the net effect of the restrictions the Government has introduced, which are limited to ports and airports ,is merely to drive up business for Northern Irish airports at the expense of airports in this State and the people they employ?

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