Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Today's announcement by the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister, Deputy Ryan, regarding Palestine is very welcome. There is never a right time to do these things. I concur with the concerns voiced by Senator Malcolm Byrne. It has to be done appropriately and properly. We will all reiterate our call for an immediate ceasefire, the opening of humanitarian aid and a stop to what is going on. It is a truly appalling situation.

I would like to call for a debate on aviation at some stage. I do not necessarily agree with the cap that is being spoken about for Dublin Airport but I certainly believe that we need to see more passengers going through Shannon Airport. We need to see the resource that is our regional airports being used much more smartly than is the case at the moment. I want to commend the senior management team at Shannon Airport because record numbers of passengers are coming through the airport but there is capacity for much more. Shannon has the capacity to alleviate some of the congestion issues in Dublin Airport, bearing in mind that one can now travel from Limerick to Dublin in about two hours. We are enhancing and improving the rail links between Ennis and Dublin. There are proposals to have a hub in Shannon so there would be a connection from Ennis to Shannon to Limerick to Dublin. We need to be smart. We cannot be telling airlines that once Dublin hits a certain level, we do not want any more planes coming into Ireland. Of course we want more planes coming in because it means more tourists. We have to remember that there are other airports outside of Dublin. A debate here on a regionally balanced aviation policy would exercise a lot of people and would be very fruitful.