Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am very much looking forward to the debate on the Ukrainian situation in Fine Gael's Private Members' time this evening. There are many questions and unintended situations presenting themselves. I thank the Ukrainian ambassador to Ireland for accepting my invitation last Saturday when she visited Lisdoonvarna and Ballyvaughan in County Clare, where there is now a significant number of Ukrainian citizens living among us. It was an extremely emotional and very powerful visit. Everybody there was quite moved, with more than 100 children singing the Ukrainian national anthem. The ambassador then did a town hall meeting in Ukrainian for the Ukrainian people. Certainly it meant a lot to them and gave them reassurance. I thank the ambassador for that.

I also wish to congratulate Conal Henry on his appointment as chair of the Shannon Group board. I wish him the very best in what is an extremely important job. It is a pity that our former colleague in the Seanad, Pádraig Ó Céidigh, felt it necessary to step down. Questions need to be answered as to why Mr. Ó Céidigh had to make that decision. I believe there is a role for the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications in terms of establishing the reasons. Was there an exit interview with Mr. Ó Céidigh by the Minister for Transport to glean and understand why he made such a decision so quickly? It does not favour confidence in what is happening in Shannon. We should ask the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications to see if there is a role for it to get to the bottom of why Mr. Ó Céidigh decided to step down. That said, I believe it is important to reiterate our best wishes to Conal Henry because Shannon is essentially the cockpit for the entire mid-west tourism industry. For decades, Shannon brought thousands upon thousands of passengers in, who came to visit our area. Between Aer Lingus and other airlines there were more than 3 million passengers coming through Shannon Airport at one stage. It is critically important that it is successful from an economic, connectivity and a job creation perspective.