Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I compliment Senator Maurice Hayes on a fine piece he wrote in The Sunday Tribune last Sunday about the apparent act of vandalism about to be perpetrated by the National Roads Authority. A former member of this House and former professor of archaeology, George Eogan, also subscribes to that view. I am not sure I would want this House to discuss the routing of motorways in the normal course of events. However, our heritage is of fundamental importance and we cannot allow an agency of the State to use trite arguments that do not stand up to any serious scientific analysis to pursue this issue any further.

I do not subscribe to the view that Aer Lingus has been such a great success. It is making money but the process by which it has made money has involved the effective disconnection of our national airline from most of the country outside Dublin. I intended flying up here this morning and it would have cost me €200 return with Aer Lingus's replacement, Aer Arann. Since Aer Lingus serves just six routes out of Cork in the winter, if I were to use the airline to fly anywhere other than the six routes, I would pay €200 to Aer Arann, plus whatever Aer Lingus would charge. I do not call that a national success, therefore, I do not have the same level of adulation for the three people who left.