Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, who is representing Galway and the west. It is also great to see such able representation of the west by so many Senators. The Minister of State has responsibility for international road transport and logistics. I thank her and her departmental team for the level of detail provided to the House today. Indeed, the detail and statistics that have been given are shocking. I recall running for the local elections last year and speaking about the fact that 32 million passengers had been through the airports in Ireland at that time and that we had a lot of disposable income in our country. I talked about the importance of tourism to our country and of driving it for the west. At the end of 2019, a total of 38 million passengers had gone through Irish airports but today the figure is 1% of that total. The impact of Covid-19 and the crisis that has hit the sector is shocking and difficult to comprehend.

All of this highlights how we have taken things for granted. In the 1980s, we used to think of airports as places to go to emigrate. Luckily the progress we experienced in more recent decades meant that people were going to airports two or three times a year, taking flights for weekend breaks or summer holidays. Airports were also so important for business and industry. Consumer confidence is crucial to this sector. As an island nation, we take air travel for granted but we must remember the importance of competition that was introduced with the arrival of the likes of Ryanair. Prior to that Aer Lingus had a monopoly and flights were incredibly expensive. We must ensure that the aviation sector maintains its competitive nature in the time ahead.

The Minister of State realistically forecasts that it will be 2023 or 2024 before air travel returns to pre-Covid levels. In that context, long-term investment will be required for the sector. The Government has put Covid-related supports in place in many areas, including the wage subsidy scheme, the deferral of commercial rates, low-cost loans and so on but aviation needs long-term supports out to 2023 or 2024. How do we support the sector in maintaining more than 40,000 jobs and surviving the challenges it faces? In terms of FDI, multinationals in Ireland support in excess of 250,000 jobs. IDA Ireland is trying to conduct site visits online at the moment. How will the authority get investment across the line after initial online visits? It will be through bringing people into the country. In that context, how do we ensure that we maintain core connectivity on the routes to which the Minister of State referred, namely to Europe, the USA and other key airports that are crucial to FDI in Ireland?We look forward to the development of a vaccine, with the potential for successful clinical trials in 2021. Our testing capability has increased. I welcome the news in the Minister of State's report that testing in airports is being looking at, hopefully in the short term, to ensure that non-essential travel can be allowed in line with European guidelines. That too will be down to consumer confidence. We have to ensure the survival of this sector and we have to do that in a way that maintains safety. That will involves testing and maintaining consumer confidence. The role each country plays in keeping the R number down is crucial.

I ask the Minister of State for more information on the core connectivity routes. Perhaps an official in the Department will be able to come back to me on that at another stage.

On the regional airports, I was pleased to hear the Minister of State speak about the five-year plan for regional airports that she will be working on. This is important for us in Galway because we do not have an international airport. We depend on Ireland West Airport Knock and Shannon Airport. It is crucial for the multinationals, including the medical technology, healthcare and life sciences companies in the Galway city area, which impact on the regional and rural areas of counties Roscommon, Galway, Mayo and Sligo.

Ireland West Airport Knock is located in a region in transition in the west. Region in transition status means GDP per capitain the area in question is between 75% and 100% of the EU 27 average. I am curious to know what other supports have been put in place for Ireland West Airport Knock as part of that EU region in transition designation. It is great the airport has confirmed it will carry out pre-flight coronavirus tests as part of a proposed EU system. From what I understand, the system will be agreed with other member states and approved by EU foreign ministers next month.

I thank the Minister of State and wish her all the best in her new role.