Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Over the weekend, we witnessed shocking sights at Dublin Airport arising from issues with capacity. There was chaos, with more than 1,000 people missing flights, many of them unable to depart for holidays they had waited three years to go on and others delayed in visiting family or leaving for work opportunities. Some of those people will not get the time off work at a later date to take another holiday. For many of them, this was their one opportunity.

Despite the Government support it received during the Covid crisis, through the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, the DAA laid off 1,000 staff in order to reduce any losses during the pandemic. The company saw an opportunity to get rid of workers who had the best terms and conditions and who were the longest working there. This was about profit and greed. That is why we ended up where we did at the weekend. The DAA tried to maximise its profits on the backs of its workers, and the people of Ireland paid for that this weekend. We made a show of ourselves. In fact, the DAA made a show of the country. Nowhere else would such a company's management be allowed to behave as the DAA's did. In so doing, it made a joke of us as a nation. For the Minister to come in here to today and indicate the company will be let away with it, instead of standing up and giving a stinging criticism of it, is unbelievable.

There is another perspective to consider, which relates to my constituency of Cork North-Central. If I walk into Dublin Airport today, I will see there are 178 flights to 88 separate destinations. If I go into Cork Airport, however, there are only 26 flights to 11 destinations. The Government has talked about balanced regional development and putting Cork forward as an alternative to Dublin for proper regional development. The Minister and other Ministers have said they care about regional airports. However, the facts are the facts. They have not delivered and they do not care about regional airports. The DAA and the Government care about only one thing, which is jamming every passenger into Dublin Airport. We need to think outside the box now. We have regional airports that are crying out of support. Will the Minister finally deliver that support, work towards balanced development and ensure what we saw at the weekend will never happen again?

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