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

Donegal Airport is a superb airport in west Donegal, no doubt about it. Just to outline geography, there is a reason 40% of the passengers in City of Derry Airport come from Donegal. It is only half an hour from my home in Buncrana to get to City of Derry Airport while it is about an hour and a half to west Donegal. That is the reality. In the Inishowen Peninsula, Letterkenny and Finn Valley people use City of Derry Airport. For a very large section of Donegal they use Donegal Airport.

Derry is the fourth largest city on the island with 500,000 people in the region. The Irish Government has removed funding now for a decade. The Minister of State has given me a more hopeful response today, I must say. In recent responses to parliamentary questions, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, was refusing to even meet with a cross-party delegation of councillors from Donegal, Derry and Strabane. The Taoiseach was recently in Derry. He said to councillors at a meeting that the shared island unit may well be a source of income. Will the Minister of State work with the Taoiseach on the basis of that assurance and try to solve this conundrum for us?

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