Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Looking at where we came from, there was 7% year-on-year growth between 2023 and 2024 in our regional airports. That growth is happening. Shannon is profitable. I do not think anybody is necessarily looking for subsidies or additional funding – capital funding, maybe - to improve facilities. I want to see more routes flying out of Shannon and Cork and that is happening. There has been about a 17% increase in passenger numbers in our regional airports since 2019. That is good but we can build on it. We have headroom. There is capacity in Shannon and Cork and I would like to see it utilised. The airports need to be hungry for business too. They need to go out and fight for business and for airlines to have additional routes flying out of their airports. Dublin, Cork, Shannon and Ireland West Airport in Knock are all important parts of our infrastructure. Allowing people to fly to other destinations from closer to home makes a lot of sense.

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