Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I must gather my thoughts and breath. I will not speak for too long. I have just left a committee meeting. As others stated, it is very important that the Irish position with regard to the ongoing war in Gaza - it is not being fought in Israel - is very much reiterated at the European Council, especially the humanitarian crisis that continues to unfold there.

I imagine that the Minister of State and her colleagues will also discuss, to quite a large degree, the ongoing war in Ukraine. I reiterate a very important point that I have made repeatedly. The Minister of State and I have children, as do many Members. Since the early months of the war, so many Ukrainian children have been displaced and are now unaccounted for on the Russian side of the border. It is reported by the Ukrainian media, although it has not been fully verified by international media, that these children are very much alive and are being minded in some institutions in Russia. Whatever about the war situation, and we are going to have to get to a point where some international peace deal is done, it seems to have left the public glare entirely that somewhere in the region of 8,000 children are no longer with their families and have been institutionalised by the Russian state in Russian territory. Away from the war, the big guns, the shooting and the killing, I would love to see Ireland, and the Minister of State in particular, championing the situation in respect of Ukrainian children.

It cannot all be about prisoner exchanges. That is an important factor in war. It is happening in Israel and Gaza and between Ukraine and Russia. There are prisoner exchanges. It is lovely to see soldiers reunited with their families after that, but there has been no exchange of children, although it is not exchange because it is one-way traffic. Children have certainly been trafficked over the border. We do not know about their welfare or where they are. It is a point repeatedly made by President Zelenskyy of Ukraine. The international community had its eye on that situation at one point but does not now.

I will make a point that relates more generally to the European Union. Quite some years ago now, we had the open skies agreement. There are various aviation agreements across the European bloc to ensure that aeroplanes can fly freely and without hindrance in the skies of Europe. There are also policies regarding landing slots and where aeroplanes can land and take off from. This does not just speak to the current problem we have in Ireland where Dublin Airport is very rapidly approaching its passenger cap. There needs to be some policy, or outlook at the very minimum, across Europe on regional airports. They do not seem to have the same backing of mothership Europe. We have very much become, not just in Ireland but across the European bloc, a model of aviation where airports in the capital have total dominance. In Dublin, the dominance is 89% market share. Cork, Shannon, in my constituency, and Knock airports all vie for approximately 11% market share. It is expected that market share for Dublin Airport will climb to about 93%. All these airports in the west of Ireland are vying for a very small percentage. If the cap is raised in Dublin and An Bord Pleanála grants planning for the new facility and the new tunnel - Dublin Airport already has the second runway - that dominant share will probably go into the high 90s. It then becomes very unsustainable for regional airports.

I am speaking about a local context in a national context but there is also a European context. When Ministers are in Europe, especially the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to meet their counterparts, it should become part of the dialogue in Europe that there has to be a more sustainable approach to aviation. As a country that is an island nation, we should be championing this. Without laying an extra concrete block there, Shannon Airport can double its capacity for passengers overnight. It has all of that capacity already. The same could probably be said for Cork and Knock airports. There is underutilised capacity, not just in Ireland but across the European bloc. I hope that could be introduced at some point.

As I said, the main thing is that we continue to be champions for the Gazan people. Championing the Gazan people is very different from supporting Hamas. I sometimes see discourse on Twitter where some people now say, absurdly, that Ireland has somehow aligned itself with Hamas. Nothing could be further from the truth. Hamas is a terror organisation. The message we have in this country is loud and clear. We have proudly stood alone for many months on supporting the Gazan people. We support the idea of statehood for Gaza and we stand with the civilians of Gaza, especially the children. I would also love to see the Minister of State raise the issue of those displaced Ukrainian children. I thank her for all her work.

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