Aviation and Stobart Air
Deputy O'Rourke raised the collapse of Stobart Air, Aer Lingus base closures and the impact on regional aviation and jobs. The Taoiseach said Covid had devastated travel and the Government was working to restore connectivity, especially for Kerry and Donegal.
I want to raise the crisis facing our aviation sector. The collapse of Stobart Air last weekend came as another major blow for the sector and for our regional economies. The announcement followed the recent Aer Lingus base closures in Cork and Shannon. After 15 very difficult months, hundreds of workers have been made redundant. It is now reported that Nordica, the Estonian state-owned airline, may take over the Kerry-Dublin route.
This is welcome, as any future re-establishment of public service obligation, PSO, routes would be.
However, it begs the question as to why more was not done to protect Irish jobs, which could now be outsourced. Why was more not done to protect connectivity? Connectivity and regional economies are at risk and jobs are lost. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan's hands-off approach is seriously damaging Irish aviation. We need a survival and recovery plan now. What action will this Government take to help the aviation sector and secure the future of our regional airports?
Comment on this
The Deputy has moved fast on aviation from a position where he wanted nobody travelling in or out of here after Christmas and was urging me to bring in mandatory hotel quarantining in double quick time, to suddenly turning around and saying it is all the Government's fault.
Covid-19 has decimated travel. The Government has provided a range of services and in particular, we want to get back connectivity to Kerry and Donegal airports as quickly as we possibly can. Good progress is being made on that. This was a sudden announcement by Stobart Air that it had ceased trading. Aer Lingus and BA CityFlyer will operate temporary replacement services, which will cover most of the affected routes operating out of Dublin and Belfast city airports operated by Stobart Air under a franchise agreement with Aer Lingus. This will allow passengers who are affected to return home. Kerry and Donegal airports, as the Deputy knows, have been supported by Government under the PSO arrangement with about €7 million per annum. The current contract is due to expire on 31 January 2022. We discussed the replacement of those PSO services linking Dublin, Donegal and Kerry as quickly as possible at Cabinet today. That is happening in real time.