Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Today, the National Transport Authority, NTA, launched a report on transport infrastructure in Limerick and Shannon. The report is going out to public consultation. The northern distributor road is a key road, linking Moyross to the University of Limerick and on to the main Dublin road. This road has been debated high up and low down for three years, but it has suddenly disappeared from the report. I understand that this has happened at the intervention of the Minister. That is not acceptable. This issue was highlighted by many people during today's public consultation meeting. The people of Limerick want the northern distributor road included.I would like the support of the Leader in that regard. The links with Shannon have also been highlighted in the report. I congratulate Shannon Airport for being one of 200 airports to reduce their emissions and for being recognised Europe-wide. Although there has been the debacle of the four-hour waiting time in Dublin Airport, there are no queues in Shannon Airport. It is time we used our regional airports. Shannon Airport has a new baggage scanner. It is not even necessary to take one's laptop out of one's bag in Shannon Airport. Somebody on the radio recently said it was a dream to go through that airport. It is time we encouraged people to disperse and to use our regional airports because as a Government we have invested in regional airports and I thank the Government for these investments. It is time that we, the public, used our regional airports and did not concentrate all our eggs in one basket.