Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026: Second Stage Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-01 ============================================================ Jerry Buttimer (FG), Cork South-Central I am not taking the credit for it. We must all promote the routes and ensure we have the offering. It is not about Ibiza or Santa Ponsa, which are important, but about the lines or routes of quality. It is important that we stress that. I want to ensure we have balanced regional development, as does the Government and the Minister for Transport. Senator Collins is right that it is about an all-island initiative. That is why the Taoiseach, through the shared island initiative, is pushing Dublin to Derry links and I hope we see Cork to Belfast links. Having an all-island dimension is what Brexit has taught us. I have gone off-piste tonight. The officials will never send me out again. We must not forget the slot allocation and the importance of Heathrow. We see the difficulty Aer Lingus is in. We cannot lose that slot allocation as an island because it is critical to flying out of Europe and beyond. I am genuinely interested in this area because I see the potential damage that can be done. Let us look at the number of airlines in America and Europe that have folded. In Cork, we thought Norwegian Airlines was going to be the panacea for everything that had gone wrong. We thought things would get better but, as Senators know, they did not. It is important that we have balanced regional development. To be fair to the Minister, he is emphasising the importance of the DAA acting as a good neighbour and being a conduit. The other point I will give the senior Minister in the Department credit for is that, for the first time, the regional airports programme, which Members discussed tonight, is being expanded to include airports with up to 3 million passengers. Cork Airport does not qualify for that. Shannon Airport is on an even playing field already. It is flying ahead of us in Cork already at one level. The previous threshold was 1 million. The Minister has changed it now. There was consensus among Senators on the need for an ongoing commitment to our regional airports. The experience of flying through any of the regional airports is phenomenal in terms of waiting times and security. The investment in Cork Airport means the new security operation is unbelievable. For me, working with my colleagues, this is about ensuring that all of our airports continue to play an essential role in the Irish economy, that we do what we are trying to do here in increasing the passenger cap, while recognising at the same time that people in the Fingal area have genuine concerns. This is landmark legislation which will ensure the country maintains its existing connectivity and employment, while facilitating the new strategic routes we all want, driving national economic growth and creating employment in the future. The hub part of aviation is here to stay, no matter where we live or where we go. The Minister is committed to listening to and working with Senators. I welcome the tabling of amendments. One of the best things I ever did as Cathaoirleach was to sit down with Martin Groves, the then Clerk of the Seanad, to parse amendments. I learned so much about what the thought process was and what we could all do. The Minister made a commitment in the Dáil on the flight plans raised by Senators. We will address that on Committee Stage and Report Stage. I thank Senators for the debate. I am sorry for going off script. It was an invigorating debate. I thank Members for their interest. I hope the Bill goes through to the next Stage, so that we can continue to parse it in the debate. --- 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