Léim ar aghaidh chuig an bpríomhábhar
Gnáthamharc

Seanad Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 31 May 2022

Vol. 285 No. 10

Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters

Special Educational Needs

I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this matter and welcome the Minister of State to the House. I am sure she is well aware of the matter as she is working hard in this area. I have seen some of the great work that has been done over the last number of years, particularly in St. Finian's College in Mullingar. Special education units have been very useful and well resourced under this Government and the previous one, to be fair.

South Meath is a commuter belt area. Ratoath has a population of approximately 15,000 and is growing. It is a town that has really sprung up. The parents and the school are very happy to push ahead with a special needs unit for Ratoath junior school. Time is of the essence. With September on the horizon, there is a short timeframe to do what we are talking about. If the Minister of State could shed some light on the matter of a special needs unit in Ratoath junior school, I would really appreciate it.

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. He will be aware that the creation and opening of special classes are of paramount importance to me and the Department. To put it in context, we have 2,118 special classes in the country at present. We have opened 300 special classes this year, creating about 1,800 special class places. By the end of this year, we will have 2,148 special classes. We are making substantial progress, especially considering that we only had 548 special classes in 2011.

The Senator has made a specific request around Ratoath junior school. I understand the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, sanctioned a special class by letter in November last year. Once the NCSE sanctions a special class, it is then up to the particular school to apply to the Department. The school did that under the additional school accommodation, ASA, scheme for the refurbishment of rooms to accommodate a special education class. I understand the school submitted this request for the refurbishment only in April of this year. The Department has asked for more information from the school. A reminder was also issued to the school to get that information to the Department in order that it can progress this matter.

I understand Ratoath junior school is enrolling students already for its special class and there should be no difficulty in supporting it under the additional school accommodation scheme. However, the school needs to respond to the Department with the additional information sought. The Department has to ensure it does everything by the book and gets all the information it needs for value for money reasons and so on. Perhaps the Senator will request that the school contacts the Department as soon as possible so that, as he says, the special class can be opened in September. I understand the school is enrolling children for this year.

I also note the Senator's comment that there are approximately 15,000 people living in Ratoath. It is not just about providing a special class for Ratoath National School. We have four special classes already serving Ratoath, two in St. Paul's National School and two in Ashbourne Educate Together National School, and there is going to be demand for more.

It is up to the National Council for Special Education to have an adequate forecasting model in place to ensure we can predict ahead of time that we have capacity for the demand that will accrue. Every year I am scrambling to get special class places and special school places. That is not something that I, the NCSE or the Department wish to see into the future. We wish to make sure that every child gets the education he or she deserves, particularly those children with additional needs, who need it more than most.

The Minister of State seems to be aware of the timeline. The school applied to the Department in April. Is it long since the Department sought the additional information back? My understanding is that the school is very gung ho and keen to move on with the project. If the request from the Department was made recently, it may be that we could liaise a bit more strongly with the school or try to dot the i's and cross the t's. I am curious as to the situation in that regard. I will leave it to the discretion of the Minister of State. If it is something that needs a little push along or a personal touch, I would appreciate it if the Minister of State were to provide that.

I appreciate that. My understanding from speaking to the Department is that the school contacted the Department in April of this year for the refurbishment under the additional school accommodation scheme. My understanding is that the Department liaised quite quickly with the school in respect of particular information it required to progress the application and that it had to issue a reminder recently because the information was not forthcoming. It might be worthwhile for the Senator to speak to the principal and the school. Obviously, I can liaise with the Senator or his staff in terms of giving more information regarding what is required. The school is aware, however, that there is information outstanding. Once we have that information, there should be no difficulty in getting this special class up and running. The fact that the school is currently enrolling children augurs well but summer will be upon us quickly. That is not to say that the ASA scheme and the planning and building unit will not be working during summer. If the Senator were to speak to the school, that would be worthwhile and we would be able to get this progressed.

Culture Policy

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I am grateful to the Seanad Office and the office of the Cathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement matter. It follows on from the Commencement matter I tabled last week in respect of Project Ireland 2040 and the capital plan for national cultural institutions.

Cruinniú na nÓg will take place on Saturday, 11 June. It is an initiative of Creative Ireland, in partnership with local authorities, RTÉ and the Department. Events for children and young people will take place in the National Concert Hall, the Gallery of Photography Ireland, the Ark, the Hugh Lane Gallery and Dublin city libraries to name just a few locations in this city.

However, there are events taking place for thousands of children and young people throughout the country. It is important that we give Cruinniú na nÓg a lift. I commend the teams bringing it together, namely, the Department staff, Creative Ireland, the artists and facilitators, the arts officers in local authorities, Youth Theatre Ireland and all organisations that support our young people. I mention in particular Youth Theatre Ireland which will host introductory theatre workshops, including a workshop by Dublin Youth Theatre. The contribution of youth theatres throughout our country is extraordinary. It seems as though everyone in theatre has come through these structures. It is good to know that children and young people have the kinds of places, spaces like youth theatres, to go to express and be themselves, feel safe, build characters, write stories and create situations in a fun and creative environment. That is beautiful.

The Creative Ireland programme has recently been extended from this year until 2027. The programme for Government commitments include developing a creative industries roadmap. I raised this matter with the Minister, Deputy Martin, on 24 November 2021. I appreciate she is not here today but if I ask the questions, perhaps they can be conveyed to the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

It was my understanding that the roadmap for the creative industries would be published in the latest Create Ireland programme, from 2017 to 2022. The roadmap was being finalised in 2019 or thereabouts. Hundreds of meetings were held with academics, stakeholders, small businesses, industry representatives and EU officials. A considerable amount of work and resources have gone into the roadmap, which was supposed to be published. However, to date, no plan has been published. There is obviously a problem somewhere. I am not sure if it will be mentioned in the Minister of State's statement, but it is hard to see what the blockage is from the outside. When will this creative industries roadmap, as part of Creative Ireland and the programme for Government, be published? I also wish to give a lift to Cruinniú na nÓg, which takes place on 11 June.

I will be making a statement on the future of the Creative Ireland programme on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, who is currently in Cabinet. Many of the questions the Senator has asked are given a comprehensive response. In December 2016, a new all-of-government initiative, entitled clár Éire IIdánach or the Creative Ireland programme, was approved as a legacy project arising from the Ireland 2016 centenary programme and as the main implementation vehicle for national cultural policy priorities.

More recently, the Government agreed that significant progress had been made to date to support each citizen in realising his or her creative potential and to mainstream creativity into public policy across Departments through the implementation of the Creative Ireland Programme 2017 to 2022. It was recognised, however, that there was a requirement to provide an early indication of the preferred direction of travel concerning the future of the programme after 2022, to which the Senator alluded. Departments and public bodies, including local authorities and stakeholders, in particular the community and voluntary sectors, would require a lead-in period to prepare key strands of the new phase of the programme.

Since detailed work to develop a new five-year programme would also, among other things, require extensive consultations, including with the public, a two-step process to secure Government agreement is being pursued. This process consists of an initial in-principle approval for a further five-year framework for the Creative Ireland Programme 2023 to 2027 to enable the necessary programme detail to be developed in collaboration with other Departments, public bodies and key stakeholders and a final more detailed version of the programme, to be brought back to Government for its agreement in autumn 2022 prior to its publication, launch and implementation on an all-of-government basis.

In February 2022, the Government provided the initial in-principle approval.

In so doing the Government reaffirmed the vision of the Creative Ireland programme to mainstream creativity in the life of the nation so that individually and collectively, in our personal lives and in our institutions, we can realise our full creative potential thereby promoting individual, community and national well-being to which we all aspire. The programme identified issues of access as it sought to reach new audiences, in particular those not currently engaging. It will therefore continue to collaborate and communicate with as broad a network as possible as it seeks to empower communities nationwide through its values of collaboration and communication, community empowerment and internationalisation. There is undoubtedly a recognition that significant scope remains for continuing implementation regarding children and young people through Creative Youth. The publication of the Creative Youth plan in 2017 provided a vision for which there has been substantial success and delivery across the primary areas centred on educational settings, community engagement and the development of a professional education and arts supporting ecosystem.

Cruinniú na nÓg, the national day of free creativity for children, is now in its fifth year and has become firmly embedded in the national calendar. The 31 local authorities are crucial to its delivery and the programme officials continue to refine an approach of key strategic partnerships with community and voluntary organisations of national reach that can complement and further enable the efforts of local authorities. As an aside I should mention that Cruinniú na nÓg takes place this year on 11 June.

While advances have been made regarding the audiovisual action plan significant benefits are anticipated from a focus on creative industries more broadly. To that end discussions are again under way among officials regarding the preparation of a roadmap for the creative industries. I will come back with more in the next contribution. I thank the Senator.

Creative Ireland has been very good at bringing people around the table and bringing stakeholders together. The statement the Minister of State has made is very helpful for my own information. I will analyse it.

There is undoubted success from the Creative Youth programme. I look forward to meeting with more facilitators, artists and schools that have taken part to get their sense of that. Schools are provided with €4,000 and I wonder if that is enough. Are we reaching as many schools as we can? Is there room for an increased budget in order to reach more schools and more after-school environments?

I welcome the fact that discussions are again under way about the roadmap for the creative industries. We were promised that roadmap in 2019. As I said before, there is a blockage somewhere. From the outside it is difficult for me to see where that is. I hope that will be published as soon as possible so that we can have sight of it and start the implementation. A good deal of resources went into that work and it will not be relevant forever.

I am conscious the Minister of State has much to say, and there is much good news in light of what the Senator was saying, so she should not put herself under enormous pressure. Take a little latitude.

The blockage over the past couple of years has been Covid-19 and the fact that a great many organisations were not able to meet as they normally did and had to go online. We missed the benefits of the arts, culture and creativity. They are so important for our well-being, in particular mental health and well-being. It was brought into sharp focus during Covid-19. I firmly believe enhanced collaboration and integration across the arts, health and social care sectors through a focus on creative health and well-being could systemically and sustainably embed these benefits in Ireland.

To inform this approach my own Department, together with the Department of Health, the HSE and the Arts Council, are collaborating to host a very important national symposium on 22 June which will consider the evidence base regarding the health benefits from creative arts and discuss arts and health activities in hospitals that can help deliver better health outcomes for patients and their carers. The Senator will be aware of the Covid-19 concerts that were held in nursing homes over the past two years. Now they are delivering these concerts to community nursing units and day care centres, which is absolutely phenomenal.

When I attended an outdoor concert in Dungarvan Community Hospital in my constituency, there was one particular lady there with dementia who could not remember anything. As soon as the music started, she knew every single word. It was absolutely phenomenal.

They will also explore the operational role of the arts, cultural and creative sectors in delivering healthcare and well-being in the community. The Creative Ireland Programme 2023-2027 will therefore focus on the following strategic areas: creative youth; creative communities; creative industries; creative health and well-being; and creative climate action and sustainability. I think it is an area that we all very much welcome because people have missed out so much in the past couple of years. To see young people, middle aged people and older people enjoying the arts, culture and everything we have so much of in this country is very important.

There is a huge amount of detail in the response and I acknowledge that. If the Senator has any further questions, he can take them up with the Minister, if that is okay. I thank him for his interest.

I understand the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is staying with us for the rest of the Commencement matters. I thank her for that.

Water Safety

The Minister of State is fortunate because she is from Waterford, where there are many fine beaches, just as we have in Wexford. We are coming into the summer season. Many more people are availing of our beaches and swimming is becoming more popular year round. However, the problem continues to arise around jet skis and small motorised vehicles. I am aware that legislation is in place that will allow local authorities to put by-laws in place. Those by-laws are supposed to be enforced, but one of the difficulties is around the question of enforcement. At the moment, even though there are by-laws regulating where jet skis can go – and they should not be going into bathing areas – there is no requirement on the owner of a jet ski to register that ownership.

There are now jet skis that can travel at up to 100 km/h in some cases and have 1,000 cc engines. Anybody can go and buy them. There are no requirements in terms of training, insurance or registration. Think about a vehicle that powerful in comparison with, say, a motor vehicle. What happens if there is an accident? What happens if one of those jet skis collides with a swimmer? This is a fear in many of our coastal communities. What are the insurance implications? Who is responsible?

The Minister of State will be aware that there was a joint appeal last year by a number of bodies, including Waterways Ireland, the Coast Guard and Water Safety Ireland, around the responsible use of jet skis. However, we as a country are an outlier in terms of registration of these small motor vehicles. We need to look at treating jet skis essentially in the same way as we treat cars, with the same registration requirements. That way, if an incident occurs, somebody can be held to account.

We do not want to stop people from using jet skis. Encouraging water sports is important, but people should do them responsibly. However, at the moment, we are allowing unlicensed, uninsured and untrained people out on these very powerful vehicles. When one talks to the Garda and the Coast Guard, the Coast Guard does not want to be spending its time chasing errant jet skiers and the Garda is not often in a position to be able to do it. It may be that at some stage in the future we need to consider the idea of water police for some of our busiest beaches, who could be shared around the country, to be able to monitor situations where jet skiers and swimmers are close to each other.

It is an area that is coming up as a matter of concern, not just in Wexford. I have been chatting to councillors and other representatives around the country and there is a real concern that this area is not sufficiently regulated. As the Minister of State knows, there is no point in putting by-laws in place if they cannot be enforced and if those who breach the by-laws cannot be caught and then held accountable. I would ask that we look at the model again and go beyond the by-laws. I ask that we look at treating jet skis in the same way as we treat motor vehicles and put in place requirements around registration, insurance and some level of training in the interests of all water users.

I thank Senator Malcolm Byrne for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Naughton, who is currently attending Cabinet. I recognise many of the significant points made by the Senator. He attended in Waterford last Friday afternoon, when we celebrated 20 years of the search and rescue service in the south east located at Waterford regional airport. We must achieve the right balance. We have seen the amount of search and rescue requests at sea and inland, and these are coupled with the supports provided by the Garda and other bodies that help people who may get lost on mountains or whatever. There is a huge range of supports in place and we must be very conscious of that.

The Minister of State informs me a range of control mechanisms relating to the regulation of jet skis exist under the Maritime Safety Act 2005. The Act strengthened the law against improper use of certain personal watercraft and recreational craft, and promotes good practice in the operation of vessels generally. Section 6 in Part 2 of the Maritime Safety Act 2005 allows local authorities, harbour authorities and Waterways Ireland to make by-laws to regulate or control the operation of craft or specified classes of craft, including jet skis, in waters under their control or management or in their functional areas.

The prohibition or restriction of jet skis may be general or in specified places and in the interests of the safety of persons using waters at certain times, or for the prevention of nuisance or injury to persons or damage to watercraft or other property on the waters. It may also be for the protection of a natural heritage area or protected monument. The by-laws may also address matters relating to launching, mooring or berthing craft, the conditions to be observed by operators of craft or maximum speed limits at which craft may be operated.

Section 6 of the Act also includes an offence and penalty regime for persons who operate a craft in contravention of a by-law made under the section. The penalties are, on summary conviction, a fine not exceeding €1,000 for a first offence or not exceeding €2,000 for a second or subsequent offence. I take on board the Senator's points about ensuring these by-laws are enforced.

The Act recognises that the conditions and issues can vary in different parts of the country. Therefore, it is a matter for the individual by-law making authorities to assess the particular circumstances in their area and decide on the appropriate response. There are general enforcement provisions contained in the 2005 Act that allow An Garda Síochána or authorised persons to act in particular circumstances. These include requiring the ceasing of the operation of craft, the seizure of craft in the interests of safety and other enforcement actions. I accept that the only reason the Senator is raising this matter is from a health and safety perspective and he is not trying to stop anyone enjoying the water or the beautiful beaches we have. We are very lucky to live on an island with fabulous and spectacular beaches.

The Senator indicates there is no provision under the Merchant Shipping Act for the licensing of jet skis. The provision of the Merchant Shipping (Registration of Ships) Act 2014, when fully commenced, will assist in the identification of owners of jet skis for enforcement purposes. An extension of mandatory registration to additional ship categories, including personal watercraft such as jet skis, is proposed for the future when the new ship registration regime is rolled out. However, this will take some time as the full commencement of the Act requires the establishment of a new electronic ship register and registration regime, which will be progressed under a separate information technology project. There will be new ship registration regulations to complement and align with the registration information technology project. It is one of the Senator's main concerns that these craft are not registered currently.

I recognise the Minister of State is taking this on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton. The response is quite clear nonetheless and my concern is the length of time this may take. There are incidents every summer and we hope none are too serious. There are certainly concerns that jet skiers come too close to swimmers, for example, and others cause a nuisance in some of our harbours.

As the Minister of State said, I want people to be able to use the water and jet skis but they should do it in a way where they are properly trained and do it in appropriate areas. They should be insured and registered. We must look to treating these machines in the same way as we treat cars. I ask the Minister of State to request that this element of legislation and regulations might be expedited as it would be enormously beneficial for harbour communities.

We can have all the by-laws we want, but if we cannot enforce them, then there is little point.

As I outlined, the legislative framework includes a range of controls to regulate the operation of jet skis. I refer specifically to the Maritime Safety Act 2005, under which local authorities, harbour authorities and Waterways Ireland may make by-laws to regulate or control the operation of jet skis in their functional areas. Such by-laws may also address matters relating to the launching of craft or the maximum speed limits at which craft may be operated. Under this Act, a range of offences and enforcement provisions may be employed in this context by authorised persons or members of An Garda Síochána.

Given conditions can vary in different parts of the country, I hope the Senator will appreciate why it is a matter for the individual by-law-making authorities to assess the specific circumstances in their areas and then to decide on the appropriate responses to those local conditions. It is reasonable that those closest to the issues and possessing local knowledge should regulate for local circumstances. I encourage the relevant authorities to explore actions permissible under the provisions of the 2005 Act if specific problems may be arising with jet skis in particular local areas or waters. I take on board the Senator's point, however, about the legislation and I will bring this back to the Minister.

Regional Airports

I thank the Minister of State for being present and taking the place of the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Naughton, whom I understand is attending a meeting in Dublin Airport. I call for balance in regional air routes in the context of what is happening in Dublin Airport. We must explore short-, medium- and long-term solutions. I tweeted over the weekend to encourage people to consider using regional airports and particularly Shannon Airport. It has the longest runway and the capacity to handle up to 4 million passengers annually. The numbers using the airport in the context of that overall capacity are low, but as we emerge from the impacts of Covid-19, the availability of flights and the numbers of passengers using them is increasing. It is good to see that happening.

A great deal of investment went into Shannon Airport during the Covid-19 pandemic. The security processes there now use scanners that allow passengers to put their bags right through. There is no need to take bags off for security personnel to examine. This development has significantly reduced the time taken to go through security at the airport. What happened in Dublin Airport over the weekend has caused reputational damage to Ireland. Even looking at the news headlines on Sunday evening, we heard from people from other countries saying they would never come back. This experience has caused reputational damage not just for Dublin Airport, but for our tourism industry nationwide. People come here because airlines, such as Ryanair and others, offer many cheap flights and encourage people to come here for long weekends or short holidays. People have been doing that and many are travelling more frequently because they could not do so during the worst of the pandemic. They might now be going away once a month or something like that.

It upset me to hear people on the television say they would not come back here. The Minister of State is from the regions. Waterford has its own airport, and we have Shannon on our doorstep. We also have airports in counties Kerry and Mayo. We have many fine regional airports. When I posted my tweet encouraging people to use these regional airports, it got more than 1,000 likes. We often see people liking tweets, but then giving out in the comments. The comments from people over the weekend, however, were good and positive. It is encouraging. Equally, however, I read a tweet from someone who drove from Clare to Dublin Airport to go to London for the weekend. That flight cost €32. If the person had flown from Shannon Airport, the equivalent cost would have been €303 one way. That is a big cost differential. This situation will not solve the problems experienced at Dublin Airport. Flights to many holiday destinations could be given to the regional airports to operate. People from the mid-west or the west should not have to go to Dublin to be able to access these flights. Equally, with business flights, there are no European connections from Shannon Airport. This is something the Government must consider.

We encourage regional development for job creation and education but not for flights. The Government needs to sit down with the regional airports and the DAA and work out a plan.

While I know the DAA was short-staffed, I understand it has taken on 300 staff and is only short another 70. If those 70 staff were in place, we would still have had queues. This morning, I saw that some of my colleagues visiting the European People's Party, EPP, congress got through to their flights in two hours or thereabouts. We need a long-term plan and to use our regional airports because we cannot afford to have reputational damage to our tourism sector.

On a final point, some people are being very abusive to staff at the airport. It is not the fault of staff so people should be courteous towards them.

I thank the Senator for raising this important issue. She did not say anything I disagreed with. I am taking this Commencement matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, who, as the Senator pointed out, is attending meetings on this very issue.

What we witnessed at Dublin Airport last weekend was totally unacceptable. The Government and Minister are very dissatisfied with the current situation and the impact that these unacceptable delays are having on passengers.

This is an operational matter for the Dublin Airport Authority which has the statutory responsibility to operate, manage and develop Dublin Airport, including all the operations associated with screening and security at the airport. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, met the CEO of the Dublin Airport Authority, Dalton Philips, and his management team first thing yesterday morning. The Ministers expressed their immense disappointment and frustration at the unacceptable scenes at Dublin Airport over the weekend. Reputational damage was caused last Sunday. The images went viral very quickly. My niece flew out of Dublin Airport at 6.30 a.m. on Sunday and it took her three hours to get through to her flight. That was before the peak.

I agree wholeheartedly with the Senator on balanced regional development, which is the cornerstone of the programme for Government. Sometimes issues arise in the capital city where more than 1.5 million people live. The Senator spoke about the various airports. There is positive mood music in Waterford today in respect of the extension to the runway. There is no doubt, however, that many of our regional airports, in Cork, Shannon, Kerry and Knock, are underutilised at times.

I will outline the response to the situation that gave rise to the events last Sunday. In seeking to address the security staff shortage at the airport, Dublin Airport Authority has stepped up recruitment and to date has successfully recruited 300 additional staff. As the Senator stated, a further 70 security staff are required. The number of new staff being on-boarded at the same time as passenger numbers are increasing is bringing fresh challenges. It is vital that staff maintain operational security compliance as a priority.

I am advised that the DAA put a number of additional measures in place since queueing issues first arose in March, including initiating a senior management task force, redeployment of staff to manage queues and assist with better presentations to security, and the opening of terminal 1, or T1, security lanes on a 24-7 basis. Until last weekend, these measures were having an impact. In general, the majority of passengers were getting through security in less than 45 minutes, even in busy periods. However, last weekend, on Sunday in particular, wait times fell well short of any acceptable level.

To return to the point raised by Senator Byrne, there are great opportunities for people living in the south of the country to use Cork and Shannon airports. When people compare and contrast the costs of flight from the various airports, it sometimes encourages them to travel to seek the best value.

I was struck over the weekend by how upset some people were. Families with young babies, elderly people and people travelling to funerals were unable to make their flights, which is unacceptable.

I know many of the Senator's colleagues have said similar to what she has said about having other airports in the country. Every effort should be made to utilise them. There is no doubt that nobody wants to see what happened last Sunday happen again. We are facing into a very busy bank holiday period. I reiterate the point the Senator made. Staff are under pressure. It is a very difficult situation and it is very important that they are treated with respect at all times.

I thank the Minister of State for her response. This issue is mainly with regard to Dublin Airport and what is happening there. I will be speaking to the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, about this. This is an opportune time for the Government. We have to put in place a plan, whether it be a five-point plan or another type of plan, to develop regional balance for flights. The Minister of State, the Minister and their teams need to sit down with representatives from all of the airports. They need to look at the various routes available. They have to take routes from Dublin Airport and give them to the other airports. It may not happen in the short term but in the long term this needs to happen. This is obvious from what we saw last Sunday.

We need to put in place proper regional balance to encourage people and to support those airports that need support. Airlines such as Aer Lingus and Ryanair need to be given incentives to give people flights at competitive rates. We also need to provide connectivity from the regional airports. We need business connectivity to Europe and Heathrow. Some routes at regional airports have flights only two or three times a week. They need to be daily.

The passenger experience at Dublin Airport is falling far short of the service our citizens and visitors should expect at our largest State airport. The Government recognises the undue stress these unacceptable delays are causing for passengers. It is like a perfect storm. People have not been able to holiday abroad for the past two and a half years. We have seen similar pressures in the Passport Office. People want to enjoy a holiday if they can at all. Some people are travelling for work. Some people are travelling because of a family bereavement and they have no choice.

The Minister and the Minister of State are working extremely hard to make sure what happened last Sunday will not be replicated. The challenges faced by the DAA at the airport are expected to continue until the end of June when all new recruits are expected to be in place and trained. The Minister, Deputy Ryan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, will continue to engage with Dublin Airport Authority on a daily basis to ensure all that can be done is being done for passengers using Dublin Airport. I will certainly bring back the Senator's comments. I agree with them wholeheartedly. There is an opportunity to grow and develop regional airports, as we have already said. It is something that should be looked at as soon as possible. There is no point having a pinch point in one area when there is capacity in others. Pricing will have to be taken into account. It is very important that we acknowledge the busy staff who worked in the airport last Sunday and over the weekend.

I thank the Minister of State. We appreciate her taking time out of her busy schedule to be with us in the Seanad. It is always appreciated and always valued.

It is always a pleasure to come to the Seanad.

Cuireadh an Seanad ar fionraí ar 12.49 p.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 1 p.m.
Sitting suspended at 12.49 p.m. and resumed at 1 p.m.
Barr
Roinn