Results 2,021-2,040 of 9,052 for speaker:Hildegarde Naughton

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: I agree. I regularly use Shannon Airport. It provides a fantastic service and the staff do incredible work. The passenger numbers at the airport have increased significantly this past year. There are transatlantic flights and extra connectivity through Ryanair. It has grown from strength to strength. It shows the work that has been done. Much of this was on foot of coming out of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: I thank Deputy Carey. As I said to colleagues previously, the political will is there to get this transferred as quickly as possible. A great deal of work has been done in the Department of Transport. An interdepartmental group was established with the Department of Transport, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the OPW and the Department for Tourism, Culture, Arts,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: That is my hope.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: Absolutely.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: I do not know. The lever is not in the hands of the Department of Transport. We have done a great deal of work to get it to this point. There is a funding issue and a lot of work is happening behind the scenes to get it resolved.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: It is what airports do best. The answer to the Deputy's question is "Yes". This is the feedback we want to get from airports and airlines. There are state aid rules relating to route incentives to airlines. As Deputy Carey knows, state aid is complex. We were able to do this under the Covid supplementary support scheme for Irish airports in 2021. Shannon Airport is a very good example...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: Next year. I wanted to start with the regional airports programme.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: Yes. To answer the Deputy's question directly, there is a 3 million passenger threshold for other countries in the EU. Again, I ask people to feed into that as part of the mid-term review. Currently, Cork Airport is outside the threshold for this year and next year because it is doing so well. Shannon Airport is doing very well; it is almost at one million passengers. We have to look at...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: Exactly. That is the context in which we need to consider airlines and airports. We need to look at the implication and outcome if the threshold is increased to 3 million passengers.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: It is. It would be a policy change here in Ireland if we did that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: It is a liberalised aviation market here. We and the Department are open to this as part of the mid-term review in that regard. A decision will not be made on it until we have a consultation process------

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: If there is a cap on the numbers coming into an airport, airlines will make commercial decisions. These are the consequences we need to consider. They may choose not to come to Ireland at all if there is a cap on the numbers coming into a certain airport.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: I meet representatives of the DAA every week. They have reassured me everything is under control. The proof of that is the movement of passengers through the airport, particularly through security. Last weekend, 100% of passengers went through security in under 30 minutes. We are appearing before the committee to give the most up-to-date figures.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: It has a task force in place and contingency plans if needed. It has overtime. I have been very clear that we do not want to have passengers standing out in the overflow marquee in the winter period. There were passengers moving through it. There was a free flow of passengers through it last weekend.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: It is there as a contingency, if needed, but I have been very clear to the DAA that we do not want to see passengers standing out in the cold. They have not been. This comes down to the waiting period, which is less than 30 minutes. That is 100% of passengers-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: I am meeting senior management every week because we do not want a repeat of what happened.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: That is a matter for the DAA. The haulage industry, which I have met, is very keen to have the tunnel go ahead. They need it because it takes extra time to travel around the perimeter. I can appreciate that there are different viewpoints but we have an ecosystem in respect of our supply chain and getting passengers, including businesspeople, in and out of the airport. We need to ensure...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: Work will begin in the new year. I want to put the focus on the mid-term review of the regional airports programmes first because the issue is the regions. That is why I wanted to put a focus on the regions and put all our effort into that first. The mid-term review will take place in quarter 1. I see the national aviation policy being reviewed in parallel with that, certainly by early...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: We will continue to monitor it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport: National Aviation Policy: Minister for Transport and Minister of State at the Department of Transport (7 Dec 2022)

Hildegarde Naughton: I attended the EU transport Council meeting yesterday in Brussels and the issue of the single European skies was raised. It needs the agreement of member states. Ireland is in favour. I know Ryanair was before the committee recently and very much advocated for this. I made a statement on behalf of the Irish Government that we are in favour of this and we are working with the Commission to...