Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 3 Oct 1996

Vol. 469 No. 4

Adjournment Debate. - Sligo Air Service.

Mr. M. Brennan

I thank the Chair for allowing me to raise on the Adjournment the matter of Aer Lingus discontinuing its daily commuter flight to and from Sligo Airport. From a date in November the Aer Lingus service will no longer operate and tenders have been received for the service. Up to a couple of years ago, Aer Lingus operated two flights per day to Sligo. Now the only flight being operated by our national airline is to cease. If the successful tender company pulls out of Sligo in a few years' time we will be left without an air service to and from the county.

The figures put to the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications regarding the Aer Lingus flight to and from Sligo by Conor McCarthy, the chief executive in charge of commuter flights in Ireland, showed that the Sligo service was not viable. However, those figures must not be looked at on their own. The majority of customers who fly into Sligo from Continental Europe and Great Britain like to fly Aer Lingus direct because they have confidence in the airline. In 1990, over 50,000 people flew into Sligo Airport. So far in 1996, because of the limited availability of seats, only 20,000 people have flown into Sligo. Aer Lingus has a beautiful aircraft, the Fokker 50 — I have flown in it from Sligo and to different parts of Europe and Great Britain. The Sligo service must be looked at as part of an overall package comprising continental travel. Looked at in this way, it would prove to be profitable.

The ending of this service is a further downgrading of the west. It is a further blow to the already crippled infrastructure of this county, given that the Sligo railway line has the worst trains and tracks in the country. I recently visited Donegal airport at Carrickfin. It is one of the most beautiful regional airports. I propose that Aer Lingus should cover both Sligo and Donegal airports as part of their regular service. This would make sense as there is only 15 minutes flight time between the two airports.

It is interesting to note the amounts of money granted to regional airports for the years 1989-93. Under the Structural Funds programme Donegal received £1,711,000; Waterford, £1,402,000; Galway, £591,000; Knock, £215,000; Sligo, £202,000 and Kerry, £6,310,000. Kerry Airport received almost £6.5 million which provided a new jet runway that is 6,000 feet long to enable the Tánaiste to fly the Government jet into his local airport. Kerry received £6,108,000 more than Sligo Airport whose runway is only 3,839 feet long. How can the Government justify giving that kind of money to one regional airport? The Tánaiste has robbed the national cake for personal and political reasons. The people must realise what he has done. I cannot understand how his Cabinet colleagues allowed him to hijack the Structural Funds in this way. It is a shame that such a thing has happened.

It is also strange that the infrastructure in my part of the country has notably deteriorated in recent times. Thousands of pounds of tourism revenue will be lost to the west. The Minister of State who is present this evening is not at the Cabinet table, but this says much about the Government of the day.

Mrs. Doyle

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter on the Adjournment and suggest that he put the question of the division of the national cake to the Tánaiste who might be better qualified to answer than I am. As far as Sligo is concerned, the Deputy will be aware that the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications, in consultation and co-operation with Sligo North West Airport has, for some time, been trying to have the Sligo-Dublin route included in the essential air services programme in accordance with EU Council Regulation 2408/92.

This programme was introduced following consultation with the regional airports and also with the European Commission, as required under Council Regulation 2408/92. The programme is designed to guarantee a minimum level of air services to the regions served by the four regional airports concerned, including Sligo, and expand the range of access options for tourists and others. The programme also serves as an inducement for the attraction and development of industry in the regions by providing quick access for both Irish sales staff and foreign buyers to the marketplace and to the production facility.

The programme already applies to the Donegal-Dublin, Galway-Dublin and Kerry-Dublin routes and involves an Exchequer subvention to assist an airline to meet the public service obligations applying to the route. I am not in a position to debate with the Deputy the figures he has put on the record but, in relation to that level of subvention, I must accept what he says as true in the absence of any contradiction from my officials. If a subvention is given to assist an airline to meet public service obligations applying to the route I can only deduce, if the Deputy's figures are correct, that there must be far greater public service obligations in Kerry than in Sligo. The Deputy may take that up in a different forum and with a different Minister.

Following two earlier unsuccessful calls for tender in respect of the Sligo/Dublin route, the public service obligations attaching to this route were revised in consultation with the airport company and re-advertised earlier this year. This was done in order to enhance the prospect of getting a suitable operator. The main public service requirements now attached to the Sligo/Dublin route are for a pressurised aircraft providing two round trips daily in summer and one in winter. Currently there is one round trip daily all year round. The increased frequency in the summer months was necessary to cater for the increased volume of tourist and other traffic in those months.

Under the terms of the EU Regulation governing the programme, if a contract is awarded to an operator on the route no other airline may operate a service on that route for the duration of the contract.

The Department is currently assessing a tender for the service. There are a number of aspects which need to be clarified before a final decision is made on the award of the contract. I am extremely hopeful that these issues can be resolved and that a contract for the provision of the required service will be signed in the not too distant future.

Aer Lingus currently provides a once daily air service in each direction on the Sligo-Dublin route. It submitted a bid in response to the current call for tenders under the essential air services programme. The bid, however, did not comply with the public service obligations agreed with the airport company and advertised in the European Official Journal and so could not be accepted. The Deputy should understand that point particularly.

Mr. M. Brennan

I understand it but I do not agree with it.

Mrs. Doyle

If and when a contract for the route is awarded to another airline, Aer Lingus, as I explained earlier, will have to withdraw from the route in order to comply with the EU Regulation. The new carrier will, however, be operating an increased frequency during the summer season. I am satisfied that this will benefit tourism development and other economic development in the Sligo region.

In the interim, Aer Lingus continues to provide a Sligo-Dublin service and has undertaken to co-operate fully with the successful bidder to ensure that the route is maintained and developed to the greatest possible extent, particularly in regard to interlining and onward connections at Dublin Airport, a point made by the Deputy. I understand that the route has not been included in the Aer Lingus winter schedule. It has been omitted on the assumption that there will be another airline on the route during the winter period. I understand that the company will continue to provide a service for a limited period after the end of the summer schedule to enable a new operator to set up on the route and I express my appreciation to Aer Lingus for the goodwill and co-operation it is showing in regard to the inclusion of the Sligo-Dublin service under the essential air services programme.

I should point out to the Deputy, of course, that Aer Lingus operates to a strict commercial mandate. In the unlikely event of no operator being successful under the current tendering procedure, it would be open to Aer Lingus to continue to provide a service on the route, but that would be a matter for the company's commercial judgment.

The Dáil adjourned at 5.35 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 8 October 1996.