Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

Older people and those with some disability like to be as mobile as possible for as long as possible. If one boards a bus in the middle of the day it is full of older people. Older people make great use of trains as well. They would make more use of aeroplanes too, particularly to visit friends and family, if airports were not as intimidating as they are. I express an interest here as I refer in part to experiences I have seen with my mother-in-law who lives in the west of Scotland and who is in her early eighties.

Aer Rianta provides wheelchairs to take people from check-in to departure. In the early morning there is an awful lot of queuing involved, particularly as it puts together different regional destinations. In Britain it is all the one queue. It is very intimidating for an older person to the extent that people ask if they will go through with it again. Often there is nowhere to sit down. When people get in the wheelchair they might like to stop at the duty free but there is no opportunity to do so.

The case I am making is not just a social and humanitarian one, it is also a commercial one. There is a big untapped market for older people if conditions were right at big airports. Obviously there is no problem at small airports such as Farranfore which is easy to get around. Air operators are missing a big opportunity. People want to travel but, clearly, air travel in the larger airport is for the able-bodied. It is not for those who, with the best will in the world, are not able to travel long distances or to wait on their feet for long periods.