Seanad debates

Tuesday, 5 April 2022

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

 

2:30 pm

Photo of Timmy DooleyTimmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to be associated with the remarks of welcome to Senator Clonan. I have had the pleasure of meeting him on a number of occasions both here and in other parts of the city and, indeed, on various radio programmes. I have always found him to be a respectful, insightful and interesting man, and I always felt that if he made it into the Oireachtas he would have something to offer. His skill set, not just in the disability sector, and I rarely met him without him being in the company of his son, Eoghan, will be very helpful in shaping policy and debate in this House. I also believe his military experience and the way he shone a light on the internal machinations, as it were, of military life are very important, especially at a time we as a society and a country are having a debate about our military neutrality. He will bring a particular insight that will be helpful in that regard.

At approximately 1 p.m. yesterday, Dublin Airport Authority issued a tweet effectively telling customers that if they are travelling at peak times they should expect delays of approximately three and a half hours. An addendum advised that if people happened to be bringing a car, they should add another half an hour. For the premier airport in the State to find itself in that situation is appalling, and there is a reason for it finding itself there. It has engaged in predatory practices in attracting airlines and passengers to dominate the entire sector. Airports such as Shannon have been left to wither on the vine. There was massive growth in passenger traffic prior to 2019. Dublin got the bulk of it and Cork, Mayo and Kerry got little bits of it.Shannon got precious little. From the time that Shannon was separated from Dublin, it engaged in predatory practices, it reduced landing charges and it grabbed it all. In the middle of the pandemic, it let people go, with voluntary redundancies, again to improve its capital position. Until such time as we have a legislative basis for managing our aviation sector, the carry-on in Dublin will continue. It is hugely damaging to our tourism industry for people to be told they will have to wait. Can anyone imagine getting a flight to Donegal to be told they need to rock into Dublin Airport four hours in advance? They would have rowed a boat to London quicker than they would get there now with the carry-on.

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