Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have listened to the speeches of my two Seanad colleagues and the Minister of State. I am concerned by the suggestion that the parties who are seeking to amend the motion do not care about employees in Shannon Group, balanced regional development and sustaining our regional airports. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. The Minister of State went through this in some detail in her references, not least the references to the provisions in the budget yesterday that have put in place very substantial measures designed to support the industries and businesses in question throughout the country, including Shannon Group. I refer specifically the strategic importance of regional airports, but particularly Shannon Airport, to the development and sustenance of tourism all along the west coast, but particularly in the mid-west. I am not from Clare but my colleagues, Senator Conway and Deputy Carey, have given me chapter and verse on the importance of Shannon. I do not dispute its importance for a moment. Deputy Carey chaired today the first meeting of the new all-party committee dealing with Shannon Airport. I am looking forward to the work it will do in terms of discussing with stakeholders the needs that must be met. One does not have to be from Clare, Limerick or the mid-west to understand the importance of Shannon and the place it has in people's hearts. My family is from east Galway. I remember driving from Tuam down to Shannon along the famous N17 as family members emigrated to America and elsewhere. It has a special place in Irish hearts and the Irish psyche but even saying that is to ignore its major importance to the national economy. One has only to consider the history of Shannon to realise the important role it has played, from the seaplanes in Foynes in the 1930s to the establishment of the airport proper in 1945. It had a role in the establishment of duty free. It was the airport at which US President John F. Kennedy landed when he came to Ireland in 1963. Almost every US President who has visited the State since then has passed through the airport, initially or subsequently. It is a tremendously important access point for the national economy but particularly the economy of the mid-west and west. Nobody can deny that.

I was delighted to hear what the Minister of State said about how well the airport was performing, about the 23% growth in passenger numbers and the fact that 963,000 visitors to the region, or almost 1 million, had come through Shannon in 2019, highlighting its strategic importance regionally and nationally. That is what has grounded the decision in the budget yesterday to put so many resources into regional airports, such as the €31.3 million the Minister of State has mentioned and the Covid-19 regional airports programme. It may well be that some people describe the allocation of €10 million to Shannon and Cork as a stunt but I do not believe for a moment that this is what it is. It is a statement of intent on the part of the Government, a commitment to recognising the importance of the airports at Shannon and Cork and the other regional airports that need to be sustained.

I have a sheaf of emails from members of the Irish Air Line Pilots Association and others who work in the airline industry throughout the country, particularly in Shannon, stating the difficulties they are experiencing. I am sure other Members have received them also. There is no doubt that these days comprise the most difficult period for the aviation industry in the history of the State. Even the difficulties airlines faced in the immediate aftermath of the events of 11 September 2001 did not amount to as sustained an attack on the industry as the one presented by the virus in recent months. Of course the industry is suffering.

The motion that the Senators from Sinn Féin have moved presupposes the answer to the problem. Notwithstanding what they have said about difficulties that may have existed in the past, their answer is to reintegrate Shannon Group, or at least Shannon Airport, with the DAA, which I presume is the primary goal. The reality is that every airline, airport and part of the aviation industry is suffering greatly. I am not saying we will never have to seriously consider reintegrating Shannon Airport into Dublin Airport or amalgamating the various bodies into a single airport authority as a commercial entity for all our regional airports. That time may come but it is not today. The danger of not accepting the amendment the Government has tabled is to suggest there is some kind of cure-all by putting Shannon Airport back into the DAA when, in fact, it will not solve any problems. It ignores the fact that we need to invest in Shannon, in particular, and those regional airports mentioned by speakers throughout the debate.

In moving the motion, it is important for its sponsors to acknowledge what it states. There is a danger that somebody listening to this debate might believe those proposing the amendment do not care for regional development but the amendment specifically acknowledges the importance of ensuring that Shannon Group is well positioned for the future, particularly given the importance of Shannon Airport to the economy of the mid-west. There is also a commitment to examine the future viability and sustainability of Shannon Group. The Government is not burying its head in the sand; it is stating specifically that we need to consider how we will ensure that, when economic circumstances return to normal, which we all hope will be as soon as possible, Shannon will be in a position to thrive in its own right, go back to where it was and be an independent and viable feature of the mid-west and national economies.

The Minister touched on the point that the aviation sector goes beyond the importance of connectivity to an island nation like Ireland and beyond the importance of transporting cargo as much as people. The aviation leasing sector, which to a large extent had its origins in Shannon through Guinness Peat Aviation, makes a massive contribution annually to the economy of this country. It is a sector that is suffering just as much.The amendment takes on board exactly what the Senators from Sinn Féin have said. It acknowledges the importance and centrality of Shannon Airport to our aviation sector and the role it plays in connecting various parts of the country to the world. It acknowledges that we must, on an ongoing basis, work towards ensuring Shannon Airport and other regional airports are in a position to compete at the highest level they possibly can, that they are viable and that they deliver for the various regions in the country that they serve. It also recognises that now is not the time to make the rash move of simply saying that there is a problem and the answer is reintegration. It is not. I am not saying it never will be but it certainly is not today. This is why the amendment to the motion is so important. It acknowledges all of the issues that have been raised but also recognises that instead of just coming in with a sledgehammer to crack a walnut we are saying we will look at it in a serious way on an ongoing basis, we will invest in viability and in monitoring the situation and we will ensure the viability of our regional airports throughout the country is served by the type of investment we would like to see in them.