Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman and both Senators for raising this very important issue. I appreciate the enormous challenges facing Irish aviation at the moment. The industry has already weathered a prolonged period of significantly reduced demand which has affected the many people employed in the aviation industry throughout the country.Ireland's economic well-being is closely linked to our global connectivity, in which aviation plays a key role. I can assure all stakeholders that the importance of the aviation industry in terms of its contribution to GDP, FDI and job creation is well understood, and that the Government will do all it can to support it through the very difficult period ahead.

The aviation recovery task force, which delivered its final report in July, made a number of useful recommendations to get the aviation sector back on its feet again. A number of the recommendations have already been implemented by the Government and others which are aimed at stimulating growth in air travel, are being examined and developed into proposals that will be deployed when the time is right. Among the actions already taken by the Government are measures to assist the sector financially. These include the extension of the wage subsidy scheme, tax claw-back measures, and the offer of liquidity support which is available to the aviation sector through the Government's €2 billion ISIF Pandemic Stabilisation and Recovery Fund. I am acutely aware of the challenges that our State airports and indeed all Irish airports are currently facing and will continue to face over the coming months as the country adjusts to the new reality of living alongside Covid-19. The Minister, Deputy Ryan, and I have met with the management of the DAA, the Shannon Group and Cork Airport and have been updated on the challenges facing Dublin, Shannon and Cork airports. I have seen at first hand the impact that Covid 19 has had on Cork Airport's operations. In addition, I have also met with our regional airports to discuss the challenges they face.

In addition to the horizontal Exchequer supports provided by the Government which I have mentioned and which the airports are availing of, the Government's commitment to our State airports was most recently demonstrated by a decision we made in recent months to provide an emergency grant of €6.1 million to Shannon Airport to complete its hold baggage screening project, a safety and security requirement under EU regulations. The provision of the funding ensured that Shannon Airport was in a position to resume passenger flights on 1 July. Officials in my Department are exploring further targeted support measures which will be considered by the Government as part of further plans to aid broader economic recovery. These supports would be targeted at maintaining connectivity at Cork, Shannon and Dublin airports.

The key to a meaningful recovery in the aviation sector, however, is to enable safe travel where the risk of contracting coronavirus from travel is low, where that risk can be mitigated through additional measures such as testing, and where travellers have some level of certainty on the public health measures in place during their travel journey. The European Commission proposal for a co-ordinated approach to the restriction of free movement offers a way forward in this regard. The Government took the decision to broadly align with this EU approach to international travel, which is expected to be finalized at the General Affairs Council on 13 October next. With regard to countries other than those on the green list, the proposed new EU approach would involve graduated requirements for testing of passengers. My Department is consulting with the Department of Health and the HSE as well as maritime and aviation stakeholders, to consider the possibility of introducing testing for Covid-19 in the context of international travel, as an alternative to the current general advice against non-essential travel. Any testing regime would need to be consistent with public health requirements and cognisant of the resources and capacity for testing available in our health sector. It is our hope that once the European common approach, including a supporting testing regime, is agreed, the path ahead for aviation and travel will be clearer and we will then be in a better position in respect of the visibility on what still might be necessary to support the aviation sector in the medium term. Officials in my Department are exploring further targeted support measures which will be considered by the Government as part of further plans to aid broader economic recovery.