I welcome the opportunity to contribute on what is without question a significant, far-reaching piece of legislation. Independent Ireland recognises the critical importance of Dublin Airport to this country. It is our main gateway to the world. It underpins tourism, supports our exporters, connects families and plays a vital role in attracting international investment. There is no point in pretending otherwise. If connectivity suffers, the national economy suffers and we are where we are. The current passenger cap of 32 million put in place under very different circumstances is now widely seen as a constraint. Businesses are saying it. The tourism sector is saying it. The workers whose livelihoods depend on those sectors are saying it so, yes, action is needed. However, the question before us today is not whether something should be done; it is how it will be done. This Bill proposes to give the Minister sweeping powers to override existing planning conditions, effectively allowing a single political officeholder to amend or remove the passenger cap even while the processes are ongoing elsewhere. That is a very serious step. It represents a significant shift away from our established planning framework and towards a model where central government can step in and bypass the usual checks and balances. I understand the frustration with delays. We all do. Communities across Ireland are waiting years and sometimes decades for critical infrastructure. Planning has become, at times, painfully slow and overly complex but we must be careful that in trying to fix one problem we do not create another. Once a precedent like this is set, where a Minister can effectively overwrite planning conditions in the name of economic interest, it raises the simple question, where does it stop? Today it is Dublin Airport. Tomorrow it could be another major project and the risk is that local voices and communities who live with the consequences are gradually pushed further to the margins. That is not a road we should go down lightly. Independent Ireland believes in balance. We believe in supporting growth but not at any cost. We believe in infrastructure but also in fairness, and we believe that communities, whether in Dublin, Cork, Kerry or anywhere else, deserve to have their concerns heard and respected. That brings me to the communities around Dublin Airport. For many years, residents have raised legitimate concerns about noise traffic congestion and the day-to-day impact of airport operations. I have met a lot of those residents. Those concerns cannot simply be brushed aside. They must remain central to any decision. The Bill provides for environmental assessment and that is welcome, but it also allows the Minister to proceed even where the impacts are identified, provided the mitigation measures are put in place. That will raise concerns and rightly so. We have to ensure that mitigation is not simply a box-ticking exercise but something really enforceable that actually protects people's quality of life. At the same time, we must look beyond Dublin if we are serious about balanced regional development, which this Government says it is. We cannot put all our focus on expanding capacity in one location. Airports in Cork, Shannon and Knock are vital regional assets. They are engines of employment, tourism and economic activity in their own areas but they need support. They need investment and they need to be part of a coherent national aviation strategy, not an afterthought. There is a real risk here that continued expansion of Dublin Airport could further concentrate activity in the capital, drawing routes and resources away from regional airports. That would be the wrong approach. We should be growing capacity in Dublin Airport but alongside meaningful development in the regions, not instead of it. Another concern in this Bill are the restrictions on further passenger caps throughout the planning system. That is a profound change. Planning authorities exist for reasons. They provide a level of oversight and accountability that is essential in a democratic system. Removing their ability to impose such conditions in future essentially rewrites the rules and we need to be very clear about the implications of that.

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