Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. This is the first time that I, as a returning Senator, have been in the Chamber with her. I congratulate her on her appointment. Some of the first points that I made on my return were about Shannon Airport, which might surprise people. The mid-west region is well represented in the Seanad by Senators Dooley, Marie Byrne, Conway and Gavan. The Joint Committee on Transport and Communications also has a number of members from the mid-west, including Deputies Lowry, Kieran O'Donnell, Carey and Cathal Crowe, and Senator Timmy Dooley.

In Ireland's aviation history, Shannon Airport was the last point in Europe which everybody transited in the 1950s and 1960s before aircraft travel had more capacity. The airport invented the concept of duty-free and a drink called Irish coffee. For many years, Aeroflot flew all of its aeroplanes through the airport. The Soviet Union built a fuel farm at Shannon and Aeroflot planes were the airport's biggest customer for a long time, from the 1980s to the 2000s. Many Deputies have complained over the years about the use of Shannon Airport by troops but this facility provided it with substantial revenue for many years when, unfortunately, it benefited from a difficult conflict.

Aer Rianta as a concept, which combined the airports of Ireland at the time, did not just run duty-free shops in Ireland but ran them in Moscow, St. Petersburg, or Leningrad as it was then known, and Dubai. Ireland is the birthplace of aircraft fleeting, initially with Guinness Peat Aviation, GPA, and now with many different companies. Half of the world's aviation industry is leased through Ireland and 90% of our visitors arrive by air. We are the largest island in the EU country, although I acknowledge that Malta and Cyprus are also islands. People in the EU sometimes forget that while they can jump on a train from Germany to the Czech Republic, France, Spain or Portugal, and from Brussels and Paris to London, we are far more dependent on aviation than any other EU member state.As a country, our personnel diaspora have a substantial involvement with aviation and are working all over the world. Willie Walsh is the director general of the International Air Transport Association, representing 82% of the world’s airlines. Alan Joyce, chief executive officer of Qantas, is Irish. Sean Doyle, chief executive officer of British Airways, is Irish. Eamonn Brennan, director general of EUROCONTROL, which controls all of the world’s airlines, is Irish. Michael O’Leary of Europe’s largest airline is Irish. We are dependent on aviation and sometimes the wider population does not appreciate just how much we punch above our weight in aviation. The Minister’s speech was excellent in terms of how much of GDP, foreign tourism and foreign direct investment is dependent on it.

I would love to see all of our regional airports thrive and do well, but we also need some perspective. When Dublin Airport was at its peak, passenger numbers amounted to 33 million per year, Cork Airport was at a level of about 2.2 million passengers and Shannon Airport was at 1.6 million passengers. Regardless, we must do everything we can for the regions. However, the Stobart Air route to Kerry amounted to 58,000 passengers in a normal pre-pandemic year. Dublin Airport has in excess of 100,000 passengers a day. We must ensure that Dublin Airport thrives for the aviation sector, which is so important, and for all our tourists. Some 90% of tourists coming into this country do so by air. Regardless of where they land, they come in by air. We must ensure they can get here. We must also ensure our population can travel safely and freely using major routes to different countries. I have no issue with Aer Lingus expanding and having a base in Manchester, but not at the expense of airports in Dublin, Shannon, Belfast or Cork, or any other airport on this island.

We have done a significant amount as a Government and as a country to help aviation in the past. Ireland has suffered. I refer to the impact on aviation of the 1980s recession, the 2000s twin towers event, and the volcanic ash cloud. Aviation is an amazingly resilient industry. However, a number of weeks ago Willie Walsh said to us at our Oireachtas committee, of which I am a member since last month, that the airline industry is going to be smaller when it is built back up, and I am questioning this myself. We must ensure that we are not at the bottom of the queue, at the bottom of the list, when airlines look at what routes to reopen. We must ensure that all of our airports are available and that “Ireland Inc.” is open for business.

I refer to antigen testing. I welcome the Minister’s comments stating that he has written to the Minister for Health. I also welcome the comments from the CMO who said that people who are fully vaccinated will not require a PCR or antigen test. Unfortunately, this does not take into account people’s children who have not been vaccinated. It would be incredibly expensive for families if they were getting a PCR test on the way in and on the back, per person. I think the Minister of State understands that point. We must have on the record of the House how important aviation is, how far we punch above our weight and how much we need to do. I appreciate the work Aer Lingus pilots did in bringing personal protective equipment into the country 15 months ago, which I do not think anyone has mentioned at this stage because eaten bread is soon forgotten. No European capital city airport flies in excess of six times its population through its airport every year. Dublin Airport was punching far above most other capital city airports throughout the EU. We must get Ireland Inc. back punching above its weight in the aviation industry. We must get people flying into the country for the hospitality and tourism sectors. We must also allow our population fly again. Let us make sure, when we do it, that we attract as many visitors as we can into the country, for the sake of jobs in the aviation industry and in the wider tourism, hospitality and foreign direct investment industries.