Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have not gone through the other measures under consideration, such as routes potentially being moved to Belfast. I mentioned the situation at Manchester Airport. I refer to the operations at Shannon and Cork airports. I raised this issue with departmental officials at a public meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communication Networks.

I am deeply concerned in respect of the issue. Workers in the sector are deeply concerned by it. Does the Minister of State share that concern? To what degree have the Department, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, assessed the impact of Covid on the sector? What sort of aviation sector can we expect post Covid? Has any empirical assessment been carried out in that regard? What scale of lay-offs is the Minister of State expecting? I believe everything needs to be done to support the sector, notwithstanding the challenges of Covid. For example, there are proposals in respect of a German model of support for workers that has been advocated by unions in the sector but has not been taken up.

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