As an island with a dispersed population, connectivity is crucial to our continued economic development. To continue this development it is necessary to lift the passenger cap in Dublin Airport while also focusing on delivering balanced regional aviation growth. That is something I suggest this Government and its predecessor have failed to do. Last year, Dublin Airport exceeded the passenger cap by more than 4 million passengers. The 32 million passenger cap must now be removed. If not, and due to legal challenges, there is a danger that the Irish Aviation Authority could be forced into enforcing this cap more strictly, which will negatively impact our wider economy particularly our foreign direct investment jobs and tourism economy. While we in Sinn Féin are supportive of the Bill, we are not uncritical of it. We will be introducing amendments to address gaps regarding regional development and an absence of an all-Ireland aspect to the Bill. The very fact that Dublin Airport is exceeding the cap by 12.5% shows there is great potential to expand capacity at our regional airports, specifically at Shannon Airport. Balanced regional development is essential to ensuring prosperity across Ireland and, as such, we need to see more ambition when it comes to the development of Ireland's regional airports. With 88% of all passenger traffic coming through Dublin, there is huge opportunity to expand the performance of our regional airports. Simply put, there has been insufficient capital funding to our regional airports, with only €82.3 million assigned for the whole decade to 2030. This level of funding spread across airports and across years is far short of what is needed if we are serious about improving connectivity, expanding routes and developing sustainable regional economic growth. Shannon Airport has been performing very well. In quarter 1 of this year, 427,655 passengers used the airport, which is an increase of 11% on the 385,000 who used the airport in the same period in 2025. Comparing these periods, there was an even greater increase in the transport of cargo through the airport, with 5,443 tonnes passing through in quarter 1 this year, which is a 53% increase on quarter 1 of 2025. Increasing the use of Shannon Airport is crucial to improve the regional balance. A 2023 report noted that operations by Shannon Airport Group contributed €4 billion to the Irish economy. The potential is there to deliver much more. Shannon Airport has been performing well but has the capacity to grow its numbers easily enough. Its terminal has the capacity to handle up to 5,000 passengers. The year 2025 was the airport's most successful in 16 years, with 2.3 million passengers using the airport. Today, while we talk about the necessity of lifting the cap at Dublin Airport, we must also give consideration to enhancing capacity at Shannon Airport, an enhancement that should coincide with improved public transport services to the airport. The mid-west, where Shannon Airport is situated, is uniquely positioned to drive regional balanced development. Shannon Airport has been the fulcrum around which the economy of the mid-west has been built. Within Shannon we have an industrial estate not too far away and in my city of Limerick we have several large international companies across numerous industrial estates that would benefit greatly from increased capacity and an increase in destinations serviced by Shannon Airport. Further to this, the airport serves as a gateway to the Wild Atlantic Way and some of the best golf courses in the world. Having worked in the travel and tourism industry for nearly 20 years, I understand the challenge of attracting additional routes and new airlines to airports outside of Dublin. The Shannon Airport Oireachtas group, of which I am a member, is a cross-party group of mid-west TDs and has met many times with the Shannon Airport Group. From those discussions there is absolutely no doubt that they are ready and willing to see an increase in the use of the airport for traffic. The lifting of the cap at Dublin Airport is undoubtedly necessary but this Bill stands as a missed opportunity to deliver meaningful regional development. The level of support provided to regional airports has, so far, been insufficient. Quite simply, ambition is not matched by support. An opportunity exists to enhance the performance of Shannon Airport and this must be seized at the moment.

Sentiment score: 0.24