Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of the funding of the City of Derry Airport or, to be more exact, the lack of funding by the Irish Government and its recent predecessors. Derry city is the fourth largest city on this island. It is a part of the north west city region of Donegal, Derry city and Strabane and has a population of 300,000. It has been battered by partition but has fantastic leaders. No matter where people come from on the political spectrum, we have united to make the case for our region and access to it.

In recent years, we have had major setbacks with the A5 project. The legal delays to this dual carriageway project from Donegal to Derry city, through Tyrone and on to Monaghan and our capital city have been heartbreaking. The project has hit a wall but I believe we can get it back on track in the near future.

We also have no rail connectivity from Donegal and Derry directly to our capital city, or to the west, for that matter. The map of the connectivity of Ireland shows a stark picture. That is why it is shocking that Irish Governments continue to refuse financial support to the City of Derry Airport. Some 40% of the passengers passing through the airport come from Donegal and our Government makes no financial contribution towards it. Derry City and Strabane District Council has been carrying the can for the airport for years with no support from the Irish Government. The Stormont Executive has been funding it and the British Government has been contributing. Shamefully, our Government has abandoned the airport for ten years now.

I have received responses from the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton. I appreciate she has inherited this issue and I hope she will take a fresh perspective on it. In a response to me recently, she talked about the context of the New Decade, New Approach agreement and indicated she would carry out reviews of the potential of the Belfast-Cork and Derry-Dublin routes. I thank her for those responses and the proposed reviews. I am sure she understands, as a woman from the regions, that it is unthinkable and unacceptable for a region of 300,000 people to have no motorway, rail or air connectivity to our capital city. This has been going on for far too long.

Like all airports, the City of Derry Airport lost a huge amount of business due to Covid, but it is up and moving again. I am delighted to have the opportunity to directly make this statement to the Minister of State. What has happened is totally wrong. We talk about all-Ireland development and working together but we have abandoned Derry City and Strabane District Council to run an airport when 40% of its passengers are from Donegal. That is wrong and must stop. I appeal to the Minister of State to find a solution to this problem.

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