Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026: Second Stage Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-01 ============================================================ Jerry Buttimer (FG), Cork South-Central I will come back to what I was going to say in a second. The speech I have been given has been made redundant, but that is okay. The world of aviation has changed. We have to look at it through the prism of various things. I will not name any individual but the number one issue is what the airline wants. The second is what the population mass of the catchment area of an airport is, and the third is what the passenger loads are going to be. We are an island nation which, whether we like it or not, is very much beholden to the connectivity provided by airlines to bring us to and from the island. The fundamental point, which was well articulated by Senator Clifford-Lee and other speakers, is that we must not dismiss the frustration of residents. Senator Boyhan is right that the residents who bought their houses in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s did not foresee where we would be today; none of us did. I say this as somebody who grew up in a family home under the flight path to Cork Airport. I remember sitting in the back garden as a child waving at planes and thinking the passengers could wave back at me. I could nearly see in the windows, and I am not exaggerating. We have to understand the frustration of neighbours and residents. Senator Clifford-Lee made a point about a school. We have to take cognisance of that, and I say that genuinely. Senator Conway spoke about Seán Citizen but the balance we need to get right is that if we do not do what we are doing tonight, Seán Citizen will lose because jobs will go, our reputation in aviation will be lost and people will vote with their feet. We have to get the balance right. We cannot dismiss jobs or the local economy. I hear the point about connectivity, roads and transport, which is important. Senators Clifford-Lee and Duffy referred to listening to the residents. We must do that. Nothing I say is meant to dismiss in any way the views of residents because we cannot do that. I mean that most genuinely, having been a public representative now for 22 years. I will bring back to the Minister the need to emphasise the principle of good neighbourliness, which DAA must live up to. I go back to the people of Cork and the model Cork Airport uses in its engagement with stakeholders. It may not be perfect but the airport will sit down with neighbours, residents and groups. We have had issues but it dealt with them comprehensively through engagement and by being honest and up-front. When the Minister issues the stakeholder expectation letter to the new chair and the board, I will ask him to engage further and make that clear. Senator Conway referred to the letter in terms of aviation. The Senator is right that I have a huge interest in aviation. I am also a former member of the transport committee. Aviation is a highly regulated area and safety and security are of the upmost importance. We debated the aviation Bill in the House with Senator Craughwell before I left to go to the Chair. The Department, our officials and the Ministers in the Department are very much aware of the concerns raised by the letter the Senator read to the House tonight. Officials are examining it and will come back to him on it. I am smiling because when I was here I often spoke up for Cork Airport and the need for balanced regional development. I will make this point to Members. If there is a preponderance of Government policies towards Dublin Airport, and it does feel like that sometimes, many of us also advocate for other areas. In my case, it is Cork. I will put a couple of figures on the record. I congratulate Senator Duffy on Ireland West Airport in Knock celebrating its significant anniversary this year. --- 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