Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)

I want to talk to the Minister about the importance of Ireland West Airport, or Knock Airport. I am sure that will be no surprise to the Minister or Ministers of State. I raise the importance of it in terms of the development of the Atlantic economic corridor, particularly the SDZ scheme there. If that is built to its full capacity, it could deliver more than 95,000 sq. m of commercial business and enterprise space and create 4,200 jobs. In the whole geopolitical climate and challenges we are facing at the moment, it is critical that this is done sooner rather than later. I welcome the fact that a project manager was appointed last year, but I ask the Minister for a specific timeline. How does the Government aim to fast-track that development zone in order to enable the further development in the region? Obviously, that includes the western rail corridor, and the connectivity to the airport is hugely important. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, is very familiar with that. I know the Government cannot dictate what flights go where, but will the Minister consider, when talking to Aer Lingus, whether it would be possible for a flight from Heathrow to the west of Ireland to be scheduled on Friday evenings and going back late on Sunday evenings to facilitate all the workers who are commuting to and from London and the region?

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