Results 3,001-3,020 of 25,997 for speaker:Kieran O'Donnell

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)

Kieran O'Donnell: I am trying to make my point in a different way. The regional airports programme is clearly the lever to encourage further balanced regional development. The Minister spoke about the regional airports being used for safety. It allows them to use other funds for various other purposes, such as encouraging airlines to fly into their airports. The committee will take this into account. 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)

Kieran O'Donnell: Does the Minister believe the ETS should be applied to all long-haul flights as well as short-haul flights?

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)

Kieran O'Donnell: How can that be put into effect? The issue is that all short-haul flights within Europe are caught for the ETS tax but long-haul flights are not. How can the Government, through the Minister, effect change at European Commission level or another level so that the ETS tax is fair and it is spread across all airlines? Is that an issue on which the Minister will be proactive?

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)

Kieran O'Donnell: I accept 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)

Kieran O'Donnell: How can that change be effected?

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)

Kieran O'Donnell: Has the Minister raised the particular issue of spreading the ETS among all airlines, both short-haul and long-haul?

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)

Kieran O'Donnell: I ask the Minister to commit to raising that issue directly. There was a convention of EU tourism islands last weekend in Spain. Ryanair has come back to us on this. The Government of the Canary Islands rejected any new environmental tax on EU airlines. We can talk about the ETS and it being fair to spread the load but that can only happen if there are supports in place to facilitate 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)

Kieran O'Donnell: The committee requests that the Minister undertake further work with the European Commission and whoever else to resolve this matter. It is a recurring issue. We have a unique position as an island nation in terms of Europe. We do not have an overland link to the Continent. One cannot get a train from Ireland to the Continent or the UK. One can travel there by sea but I refer to the EU...

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)

Kieran O'Donnell: We visited Schiphol and Rotterdam airports. Rotterdam Airport was very interesting. It has solar panels around the perimeter of the airport that are now generating three times the amount of energy required to deal with activity at the airport itself. It is very progressive. I have no doubt the Minister will be very interested in this. Would he consider taking that up? We found it to be...

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)

Kieran O'Donnell: Directly around the perimeter of Rotterdam Airport there are solar panels as far as the eye can see. They have only just gone in. They are generating three times the energy requirements of the airport. I am not certain whether the airport can sell into the grid. We ask that such a scheme be considered.

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)

Kieran O'Donnell: We will be following up with the DAA again as a committee.

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)

Kieran O'Donnell: Why is the marquee still there?

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)

Kieran O'Donnell: November is typically much quieter than December. I ask for vigilance in this area. We will soon be in a post-Covid era, although we are still not out of it. There will be many people travelling-----

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)

Kieran O'Donnell: Does the Government support the €200 million tunnel under the runway that they DAA is involved in?

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)

Kieran O'Donnell: I have two local questions for the Minister. With regard to the Limerick northern distributor road, the Limerick metropolitan area transport plan was finally published. At our briefing with NTA representatives in recent days, I asked whether they interacted with the Minister and his Department to see whether there was a way forward. As the Minister is probably well aware, the Limerick...

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)

Kieran O'Donnell: We are all glad about those; they are not mutually exclusive. In the limited time left, could the Minister state why he held his position on the second leg of the northern distributor road? It is unparalleled to write to the NTA to tell it to take a project for the city and region out of a plan. The NTA staff are the professionals in the area.

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)

Kieran O'Donnell: Why?

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)

Kieran O'Donnell: Surely the people of Limerick have a say in this. Did the Minister just look into his heart and determine what was best for the people of Limerick in the mid-west?

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)

Kieran O'Donnell: Who were in favour of it.