Seanad debates

Tuesday, 13 July 2004

State Airports Bill 2004: Second Stage.

 

7:00 pm

Margaret Cox (Fianna Fail)

I thank Senator Walsh for sharing his time. I travel from Galway to Dublin weekly and I choose to fly rather than drive. Every week, therefore, I see the problems Dublin Airport faces, the congestion and the queuing. People queue like cattle. I have not been to many marts but I can visualise cattle moving up and down between barriers on the way to the ring. People move up and down between barriers, regardless of the number of people in the queue, in order to get to the security area. In the security area people again stand, like idiots, and wait. There are outdated machines where it is necessary to remove one's laptop computer from its case to have it X-rayed. Why do I have to put up with that every week? I do not have to open up my laptop and put it separately through an X-ray machine in Galway. Travelling weekly, not only do I have a laptop but I have files and all sorts of other things which I must pull out in Dublin Airport and put through the X-ray machine. That is what happens when there is a monopoly and no competition. That is why I am here to say "well done" to the Minister. That is one of the reasons we need a shake-up regarding how we organise our airports and do our business in terms of access to our country.

I made a decision this year that wherever I go on holidays with my family — my husband and four children with lots of cases trying to get out of the country for a week or two — I would not go via Dublin Airport. I considered going via Galway, Shannon, Cork and Knock, all independently-run airports, and decided to travel via Galway and Waterford, direct to Lorient. It is fantastic because I will not have to go to Dublin Airport. What is different about an airport, whether private or public, when it is in competition? When a business is in competition with the big boys it becomes smarter and leaner, it listens to what its customers want and it delivers that.

Galway and Knock are not part of the Minister's plan, but Shannon is, and Shannon is vital to the development of the west. We all have some idea of what will happen under the open skies policy and will not be discussing it here this evening. However, the only way true development in the west, from Donegal to Kerry, can be achieved is by having an international airport that stands on its own two feet, that stands up to the big boys in Dublin Airport and tells them they are overcharging, that they are not delivering customer service and that they are not giving the customers what they want. I want to have an airport in the west that is linked by a proper road network, that is reliable and on which we can depend, that is linked by rail to appropriate places in the west, that delivers a gateway and continues to deliver a gateway to the west.

Every manufacturing job in the west has three service jobs attached to it, including a tourism job. I was in an industrial plant in Galway this morning which 25 visitors from Japan were visiting. An hour and a half later I saw those 25 people at the airport travelling back to Dublin. Our challenge is to put the infrastructure in place so that those people need not get on a plane in Galway and travel to Dublin but will be able to travel out of Galway to somewhere else or, alternatively, to drive to Shannon. Shannon is delivering what is needed in the west. The west needs the infrastructure to support access. I am aware the Minister has plans in that regard. Customer service issues need to be addressed. It is necessary to ensure that what people need is being delivered. The entrepreneurship for which the west is renowned must be protected by ensuring it has a service that allows it access to Europe, Australia, Asia and particularly North America. In order for the west to continue to develop, tourism, services and manufacturing are needed. I applaud the Minister for the courageous step he is taking.

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