Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, for engaging with us in this discussion and for her attendance this morning at the meeting of the select transport committee. It has been an unbelievably difficult year for all 140,000 or so employees in the aviation sector and the many spin-off sectors that lean heavily on it. In the past week, we had the devastating announcement for Stobart Air employees and, with it, the realisation that ten public service obligation, PSO, routes are very much up in the air. I welcome the announcement by Aer Lingus in the past hour that it will be able to continue those routes on an interim basis. Emergency procurement is under way by the Department to plug that gap in the medium term, which is also welcome. It is absolutely essential for Ireland's regions that the routes are reinstated. In addition, there must be engagement with the many workers facing the devastating news that their employer is in liquidation. Where will they find employment in future and how do they pick themselves up as we come out of the tail end of the pandemic?

On top of that, there has been the devastating news, which has really hit hard in my constituency of Clare, that Aer Lingus is permanently closing its cabin crew base in Shannon. I want to quantify what that means because it has been misinterpreted in many instances. Losing a cabin crew base has a devastating impact on the staff employed there but also in terms of connectivity. With a base, there are aircraft flying out in the morning and other aircraft landing in the evening and parking up overnight. For passengers, there is the fabulous option of an early morning flight out and a late return flight. That is what we have had for many years in the mid-west, with flights going from Shannon Airport into Heathrow Airport. The base offered excellent onward connectivity that was key for economic activity in the region. That will be gone if we do not have a cabin crew base. In addition, a review of operations by Lufthansa Technik is under way, which points to the immense difficulties the maintenance, repair and overhaul, MRO, sector is experiencing.

Of course there is also hope. From 19 July, non-essential international air travel will be possible. We need to look more at how that is shaped, and antigen testing must have a major role in it. The reopening of non-essential travel might never have happened because there have been delays in implementing the plans. I am glad Sinn Féin is now with us on this, considering it opposed the votes in the European Parliament to fast-track the system and get it further along the line and implemented within a quicker time span. I am glad there is now commonality in the Dáil in terms of getting the system up and running and operational in the quickest possible time.

Regarding antigen testing, it is clearly set out under the digital green certificate system that there is an either-or option in terms of PCR and antigen testing. It costs €120 to €150 per person to be PCR tested.

The comparative cost for an antigen test is between €5 and €10. They are two very different beasts.

As other speakers have done, I want to knock on the head and refute the assertion that the intent of those of us who want to see antigen testing introduced is to knock PCR testing off the shelf. PCR is the gold standard in testing. We want to see antigen testing introduced to complement PCR testing and introduce another tier or filter, as it were, in testing, to ensure that the people who board planes and take to our skies are doing so safely.

An antigen test picks up critical data on a person's antigen levels an hour or two before departure. A PCR test is taken 72 hours before departure. How many door handles and toilet flushers will one have touched between the time the PCR test is taken and the point of departure? Antigen testing is a key layer of testing that we need to have in place. It is a way of filtering out those who are positive and negative and then referring them on for PCR testing. It is not a barrier to international travel, but an expensive PCR test very well may be.

We witnessed a bizarre situation yesterday when Dr. Mary Keogan, who was addressing the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications, stood in front of her webcam with a bottle of water and an antigen test and proceeded to demonstrate how an antigen test result could be falsified. It was bizarre and ludicrous. Each one of us here wants to work within the realm of scientific and medical evidence. That is what we have said time and again. Dr. Tony Holohan made some points at the committee meeting yesterday. While I compliment all of his work to date, it is important that we challenge some of the points that he made yesterday. He stated that the use of antigen testing has to be verified and tested. However, there are 17 other CMOs in other European states that deem it safe, possible and viable to use antigen testing as a form of testing for passengers entering and leaving their countries. It must remain an option.

I am glad that An Taoiseach and the Minister for Health voiced an openness to trialling antigen testing last night and I note the warm tones of the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, on the matter today. However, it needs to be trialled as soon as possible. We are only four weeks away from planes taking to the skies and non-essential travel returning. We need to see that testing happening in the field as soon as possible. I have been saying it for several weeks, but the logical thing to do is to pick a route that is currently operational and test a cohort of passengers travelling on that route. The data should be collected in that form to prove, like 17 other European nations have, that antigen testing is viable, safe and not very costly. It will allow people to get back safely to the skies.

I wish to pose the following question. Have workers in the aviation sector been exploited in the Covid pandemic? I contend that they have. For example, if you are a Shannon Airport Aer Lingus employee with 30 or more years' loyal service to the airline, your job is gone or your future is very uncertain, to say the least. However, for a colleague of yours in Dublin who took up employment with the airline weeks before Covid hit this country, their job is safe and well-protected. In any place I have worked over the years, from my weekend jobs as a student in the local cinema to working as a teacher in my local school, there has been a long-standing principle of last in, first out. It does not seem to apply in the case of Aer Lingus. It has treated its employees in Shannon most shoddily. It has sent them Whatsapp messages and videos on Zoom to tell them that their jobs are gone or they are being temporarily laid off and their base is being closed permanently. That kind of messaging is all wrong. In future, when Aer Lingus comes to the Government looking for supports, those supports must have strings attached to them. It has to be conditional. If it is taking Government support, €150 million in Ireland Strategic Investment Fund funding, and allowing the taxpayer to cover its wage bill for 15 months, it had better look after its employees and its base in Shannon. Aer Lingus has taken the taxpayer for a ride. It waited until the eve of things getting back to normality and the return of international travel to pull the plug.

There is a way forward. Yesterday morning, I was joined by three party colleagues who represent a wider group that has been working for many weeks on a policy document on delivering medium to long-term recovery in aviation. Right now, everything hinges on 19 July, but what happens in the shoulder season and the winter season? We have put together a document which sets out potential interventions such as per-passenger payments to reduce landing charges and stimuli to ensure that routes are retained and new routes are brought in. The document relates to areas of responsibility of the Minister of State's Department. I urge the Minister of State to look at it so that it can see the light of day and some of the policies might be actioned.

In respect of Shannon Airport, we need to hear a lot more. A strategic review was undertaken in August of last year and we still do not fully know how it has progressed. As I stated earlier, Shannon embodies much more than just the airport. There are the Shannon heritage properties, for example. We need to know where they will end up. They have had liquidity problems in the past 15 months. The Shannon commercial properties are doing quite well. However, they are all intertwined. If one goes, it will severely damage the others. Therefore, we need to know what the future of Shannon is and who is going to be chairperson of the Shannon Group. It is eight or nine months since Rose Hynes left her post. An appointment was made in the interim period. It was not the right appointment. The less said about that, the better. Each one of us in the region asked for the process to be slowed down to ensure that the situation could be appraised so that the right man or woman could be picked to lead the airport and Shannon Group as a whole. That appointment has still not been made. It must be done.

Separation has not worked for Shannon. We are a small country. We should have one, overarching aviation authority that governs all of our airports. We should not have this competing, predatorial relationship, with one airport vying against the other. When we emerge from the Covid pandemic, there will be opportunities for international aviation. There will be opportunities with north America and Europe, but they can only be delivered with the right policies. We submitted our policy document yesterday. I sincerely ask the Minister of State to consider the proposals. Shannon, Cork, Dublin and Knock and all of our airports, airlines and the employees that we have spoken about today can have a viable future if we put the right policies in place.

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