An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2025-12-18
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Dee Ryan (FF), Nominated by the Taoiseach

It is appropriate as we approach the end of the year to reflect on what we have been through economically in the course of 2025. It has been another turbulent year for business owners and business leaders. We started the year with a lot of uncertainty around tariffs. There were fears of a potential trade war between the US and the EU.
I commend all of the business owners and business leaders who steered their organisations through that turbulent time. I also commend our political leaders on the hard work they did in getting us through that. By no means would it be safe to say there is certainty as we look to 2026. That is why I call for a debate in the House on diversification of our markets, specifically the crucial role that transport, air access and connectivity have for us, as an island nation, in developing our economic links with other markets. We in the mid-west call for increased daily connectivity to the EU marketplace from Shannon Airport. We would also like to see the development of links with the UAE and the Gulf states. It has been a market of national focus for us. We have an embassy in the UAE and we have opened Bord Bia and Enterprise Ireland offices there. There is a real business case for developing closer links, with air access from the UAE to Shannon Airport, to help economic growth in the region and sustainability and resilience in coming years.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-12-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:29+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-18