Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise the issue of our policy on trying to assist the airports outside of Dublin and trying to increase traffic flow in and out of those airports, whether it be Shannon, Cork or Knock. A problem has arisen that has been brought to my attention by a number of people. I refer to the prices Aer Lingus is charging people flying out of Cork. For instance, if I were to book flights for two people to Munich in February, it would cost me €1,000 more to travel from Cork Airport and back than it would cost flying from Dublin. This is not a booking next week; it is a booking next February. I then found when I looked to book a flight last week from Cork to London on Wednesday, coming back on Friday, that it would cost me €700 return - over €300 to fly out, over €400 to fly back. It is outrageous that an airport such as Cork, where Aer Lingus now has increased the prices, is charging such amounts. As a result, people are now deciding to travel to Dublin to get flights out of Dublin rather than travel out of Cork. It is not helping the flow of traffic through Cork. We need to have the Minister in here to see what can be done about unfair pricing levels regarding the airports outside of Dublin. Dublin already has huge numbers of flights, so there is no need for this type of policy. We need to take this up with the Minister and the Minister then needs to take it up with the carriers, particularly Aer Lingus.