Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026: Second Stage Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-01 ============================================================ Dee Ryan (FF), Nominated by the Taoiseach I welcome the Aire Stáit and thank him for giving us the opportunity to discuss this important issue. I rise today feeling conflicted. I am a Limerick woman from the mid-west. I spent the six years before I came into this House advocating on behalf of the business community in the mid-west. A key pillar of that was pushing increased investment in the region and promoting balanced regional development. A key component of that balanced regional potential for us is Shannon Airport. It is very difficult as a mid-west woman - I am sure my Clare colleagues will agree - to stomach the dominance of Dublin Airport. I disagree and refute completely that it has not come at a cost to the regions. With the recent figures for growth in regional airport numbers, it absolutely has. How can an airport with passenger numbers of a record high at 2.3 million compete with 36 million? There is no competition. The airports are self-financing. They have to generate their own revenues. For a layperson's understanding, they use part of the revenue they generate not only to maintain and upkeep the airport, improve facilities and provide services within the airport but also to entice airlines to put on new routes. The Minister of State cannot tell me an airport like Shannon with 2.3 million passengers per annum has anywhere near the pockets the DAA and Dublin Airport have to compete and bid for route development. It is not the case. I appreciate and acknowledge the Minister has included Shannon Airport in the regional airports programme which I have been seeking for eight years. It is an important extension of Government supports to Shannon Airport but if we are serious about regional development and balanced economic development, we have to recognise the strategic importance of our airports in that. As an island nation, we need those connections to other markets which will support foreign direct investment into regions and support companies in the regions to make those business connections, develop those markets and potentially invest out. In Limerick and the mid-west region at the moment we do not have daily business connectivity to an EU hub airport. It is shocking as members of the EU - this is our key asset in terms of international trade. We know how important that is to us as an economy. Shannon Airport does not have daily business connectivity to the EU marketplace. Much as we have done in a dysfunctional housing market where we intervened and funded where necessary to provide critical supports and subsidies for people to achieve housing and get on the housing market, we need to look more closely at what policy measures can be drawn up and what funding can be brought into place to fund strategic routes. I am not talking about Ibiza or Santa Ponsa, I am talking about Charles de Gaulle Airport and Amsterdam Schiphol - meaningful connections that will help to develop our regional economy. I am glad we are finally saying the emperor has no clothes. Dublin Airport has been exceeding its cap for many years. It does not observe it. It is appropriate that we legislate to allow it to continue to grow. I recognise the significant role it has played in our overall economic development and the growth of Dublin but I would like to see meaningful parallel investment in our regional airports. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-01/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:08+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-07-01