Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am very conscious that in speaking about the aviation sector I am speaking about the future lives and livelihoods of more than 140,000 people around the country who work in this sector, along with a huge number of ancillary service providers who themselves offer significant employment. The sector, pre-Covid, was worth €4.1 billion to the Irish economy. In 2019, 38.1 million passengers passed through the airports. The changing threats that Covid has presented have reduced passenger air traffic in and out of Ireland to a trickle, with a resultant dramatic fall in income for many of those employed in the sector. I have received numerous letters and emails from pilots, cabin crew, ground staff and husbands and wives who are in dire financial straits as they try to keep mortgages and other financial payments up to date on significantly reduced incomes, wondering all the while if they will have any job to return to.

The narrative now is to look forward to the opening up of the economy and build back better. Our aviation sector, one of the strongest-performing components of our economy pre-Covid, has suffered hugely as a result of the need to try to protect our population at large. The Government now needs to reassess the importance of this sector to our future national economic recovery and to provide contingent funding to ensure this sector can survive the rest of this year as, hopefully, we build a recovery in the aviation component. For those for whom re-employment in the sector may not be possible, Government must prioritise new training and access programmes to offer these people an avenue to return to gainful employment.

We have seen persistent mixed messaging on the aviation sector regarding a possible reopening date, which appears dependent on our participation in the European digital travel certificate programme, potentially signalled as 19 July. This return promises some reinstatement of passenger travel in and out of Ireland, but for anyone unvaccinated it will come at the expense of at least one PCR test and either enforced or agreed quarantine for up to ten days after arrival into Ireland. These continuing restrictions are, judging by the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, contribution to the transport committee yesterday, going to remain in place until those flying are virtually fully vaccinated. Any proposals regarding rapid screen testing for those flying into Irish airports seem now to be completely off the table, according to the Chief Medical Officer. It appears public health advice will remain consistent in taking no proactive measures to encourage travel or initiate any type of antigen testing that might help restore inward and outward travel to Ireland to any greater degree. This is completely at odds with what is happening with other European peers.

The strictures around testing and quarantine mean that many of our traditional international tourism markets will only function to the degree that international travellers are fully vaccinated. This has obvious implications for international tourist visitation, possibly up to the end of this year and beyond, depending on what variants may be in circulation elsewhere. It is worth reminding ourselves that tourism visits to Ireland in 2019 were of the order of 17 million visitors so we can see the breadth of the national problem we are facing.

Serious question must now also be raised regarding the future viability of our regional airports and, perhaps, even our international connectivity. Past decisions to sell the final tranche of Government ownership of Aer Lingus now appear to have been unwise. Given that Aer Lingus represents approximately 5% of International Airline Group's, IAG, commercial activity, the degree to which the parent company will continue to offer further support to its Irish subsidiary remains unclear. Beyond offering soft loans, what else is Government proposing to do to ensure we retain as many travel connections as possible from our pre-Covid portfolio?

Regarding the precarious state of our regional airports network, which has been clearly demonstrated by the failure of Stobart Air, what plans is Government envisaging to ensure our regions have viable connectivity to support the activities of multiple foreign direct investment, FDI, concerns based all around the country? I highlight Waterford Airport, in which I have a particular interest, where Government has given commitments to the extension of the runway. I wish to see these progressed, along with other supports to regional airports.

Nothing in life stays the same and neither does it in the aviation sector. Irish companies became some of the largest and best in the world, in terms of aircraft financing and creating successful low-cost travel options. Although the sectors have been severely dented, it is worth noting that Ireland has a significant diaspora who will wish to visit these shores again, along with an abundance of international travellers who will want to visit once the Covid situation is completely under control. It is the responsibility of Government to ensure we retain adequate aviation capacity in order to kick-start travel opportunity as soon as possible.

The Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, must be encouraged to return to the House in the coming weeks to highlight the ongoing planning to secure these objectives.

I will raise a couple of points with respect to European travel, as a marker of how we are doing. European aviation tracking is now at 46% of 2019 levels and continues to rise. Some days it has exceeded 50%. Ryanair has brought around 800 additional flights per day into the European aviation market since 1 June, contributing to a 147% rise in flights over two weeks. There have been high increases for many states, with flights in Spain, Italy, Germany and France up 32%, 40%, 20% and 15%, respectively. These are substantial figures which reflect our position in terms of loss of competitiveness and reduced flying activity. We have to address this.

Ireland’s population is more than 1.1% of the European Union, yet its allocation under the European resilience fund was only 0.75%. Can we not fight for more of this fund to support our ailing aviation sector? More can be done in this regard. We are in a tough spot financially with Covid but our aviation sector was one of the bright stars pre-Covid. We must do all we can and give all the support we can to try to ensure the sector gets back on its feet as soon as possible.

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