Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will conclude and I hope I do not disrespect any Member I may have left out. I will finish up with Senator Burke's comments. I was a family friend of the Ryan's. Jim Ryan was behind the building of Knock airport in the first place. He and Monsignor Horan were centrally involved. Jim Ryan, a returned immigrant from Australia, talked up the prospects of Knock airport and we all thought at the time that he was mad. He spoke of flights coming in and out every day, and everyone was nodding at him and saying "That's right Jim", but thank God he was right in the end. That was only 25 or 30 years ago. It shows that if one thinks big with a sense of vision and a sense of what is possible, think of what can change in 25 years. If we can forward think in a new way, we can see a revival of the west of Ireland particularly. It will be around sustainability and the west of Ireland being green. This is where we will have the real advantage. This is the way the world is going and we might lead it in that direction ourselves.