Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with three colleagues.

The scenes we witnessed at Dublin Airport at the weekend are a damning indictment of the national aviation policy, whereby we jam 87% of passenger traffic into one airport and allow the remaining four airports to fight over the remaining 13%. I very much look forward to representatives of the DAA appearing before the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications tomorrow and answering questions. The public are entitled to a service and that service is simply not up to scratch. I look forward to the representatives explaining how the DAA will get passengers through the airport in a timely fashion, which I expect them to outline tomorrow.

The underlying problem relates to the national aviation policy. We in the transport committee have received a commitment from the Minister for Transport that that policy will be reviewed. This is important not just for Dublin Airport but for the entire country. One airport is overly dominant. Other countries have examined this question, such as the Dutch Government in regard to Schiphol Airport. It has enacted policy decisions to spread out the traffic more evenly to airports in other regions of the Netherlands. A similar policy is being pursued in Finland and Austria and we need to do the same here. The national aviation policy has not been reviewed since 2015 and the mask has begun to slip, as can be seen in the chaotic scenes at Dublin Airport. We need to look at the role Shannon Airport, as well as other airports such as those in Cork or Knock outside of the greater Dublin area, can play.

I reiterate the points made by the new chairperson of Shannon Group, Mr. Conal Henry, when he appeared before the transport committee last week. He stated that the national aviation policy is a critical issue, and we need to move on that. Doing so would be good not just for the regions but for Ireland. Dublin Airport is creaking at the seams. We have spare capacity at Shannon Airport, where only one third of the capacity is used, and it would be excellent for balanced regional development. It would mean much more than a catchphrase and would bring it in line with strong Government policies such as Project Ireland 2040 and our regional economic and business plans. We need to bring the aviation policy into line with those policies and look on our airport as a regional driver of economic activity for the mid-west and the western seaboard.

In his concluding remarks, the Minister of State might confirm whether the national aviation policy will be reviewed and outline a timeframe for that.

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