Dee Ryan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of the recent disruption at Heathrow Airport and the impact it had on air travel in the UK and right across Europe. The prospect of similar disruption at Dublin Airport, and the oversized disruption that would, God forbid, cause in Ireland, should set alarm bells ringing for the Irish aviation authorities. While Heathrow is the busiest airport in the UK, with 79.2 million passengers in 2024, it is still handling only 34% of all air traffic in the UK, whereas Dublin Airport, with more than 34 million passengers last year, which breached its allowed cap as per planning permission granted, accounts for 86% of all air access into the country.

The Government has committed to balanced regional development through Project Ireland 2040 and envisages the spreading of economic opportunity, including homes, jobs and prospects for people, throughout our country. Critically for an island nation, air access, in allowing us to welcome both visitors and trading partners into the country and to ship our goods out of the country, is a vital component of that economic opportunity. Unfortunately, Ireland's national aviation policy predates Project Ireland 2040. I have raised this issue with my colleagues in the Government, including the Minister for Transport, and I raise it again today. Will the Leader call on the relevant Minister in the Department of Transport to address the House on the critical need for us to update national aviation policy to ensure that regional airports, such as Knock, Shannon, Cork, Waterford and Kerry airports, have the same opportunity to grow and increase their connectivity into their regions and support economic growth and opportunities for the populations in them?