I am convinced that the maintenance of competitive access links by air and sea to Ireland is critical to future success in tourism. While we are well served as regards access by sea, I will work closely with my colleague, the Minister for Transport, to encourage the opening up of new air routes and the introduction of enhanced competition in the operation of our airports. I welcome, in particular, the recent decision by Aer Lingus to reinstate the Baltimore-Washington route and hope it may be possible to open up further US routes to help restore the 20% reduction in seat capacity which we lost last year.