Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First, I join the Deputy in welcoming the fact that the Shannon to London Heathrow route is operating again. That route opens Shannon and the midwest to the world. It is important that that is happening again. I welcome President Biden's announcement that fully vaccinated people from Europe will be able to travel to the United States again. That allows us to get routes from Dublin and from Shannon to the United States up and running again. While I cannot go into any details around discussions with individual airlines, I can say the Government will be willing to put money on the table to incentivise airlines to restore routes that were lost during the pandemic. Of course, we have in our mind a hierarchy of routes that are most important. I do not think that the Deputy is too far off the mark in that regard.

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