Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-08 ============================================================ Joanne Collins (SF), Agricultural Panel I will speak to amendments Nos. 20 and 22, which are grouped with amendment No. 2. Amendment No. 20 requires the publication of the national aviation policy that supports regional balance, strengthens regional airports and adopts the all-island approach. I understand what Senator Scahill said to the effect that it is not one above the other. I get that, but would it not be great, on the back of this, when we are talking about Dublin Airport, to have a report to show what we are doing for regional airports? I am all for regional airports. I live in County Limerick. I am right in the centre between Shannon Airport and Kerry Airport. Would it not be great if I could use Shannon or Kerry airports to fly wherever I need? I have to travel to Strasbourg four times a year for the Council of Europe. I have to drive three hours to Dublin because the flights from Shannon to Strasbourg only go on Saturdays. If I do not want to spend a whole week over there for the sake of four days, I have to go from Dublin. It took me 13 hours to get to Strasbourg the first time I went, between my trip from my house near the border with Kerry up to Dublin. Would it not be amazing if we had more flights? I know it comes down to the airlines. I would love to see airlines being incentivised to use our regional airports, whether it is for tourism or for the growth and development of our industries. We have a fantastic area in Shannon where there is a lot of foreign direct investment. It is about publishing a policy that will strengthen that, which we all seem to be calling for across the two Houses. Amendment No. 22 asks a simple question about what effect lifting the ban will have on the regional airports. They kind of mirror each other. One would be to have policy drafted and the other is to see the effects. I have said from the very start of the debate on this Bill that we live on an island. It does not make sense to cap the number of people who come in and out. We have to have movement. It is about one not having the benefit so much more. As well as that, residents are giving out about the number of flights. If our regional airports were to grow a little more, Dublin would either stay the same or drop a bit. Everything would be shared out across the whole country, which would be great. --- 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/2026-07-08/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:10+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-07-08