Seven Senators wish to contribute and we are way over time so I ask Senators to be brief.

I join with Senators Carrigy and Keogan in asking that we have a debate about the issues of travel agents and travel. Only this week, Ryanair has announced the closure of its bases in Cork and Shannon. I will repeatedly demand that we have an honest debate about whether we, as a country, are going to be open and open for business. It is incumbent upon us to have that honest debate in this Chamber.

I ask Members of the House to reflect on what they have said about Cumann Lúthchleas Gael and the GAA championship season. The Chief Medical Officer wrote to the Government and stated that, under level 5, matches can take place. The matches are taking place behind closed doors and, as Pat Spillane said this week, the championship is the symbol of hope for all of us. I support Senator Cassells and ask Cumann Lúthchleas Gael to reflect on the point that it makes no sense for Kerry footballers to drive to Monaghan in single cars next Sunday, nor does it make sense for Donegal players to drive to Kerry a week later. I ask Cumann Lúthchleas Gael to come up with a neutral venue policy. We are playing the games behind closed doors. I am a member of my club executive and a former county board officer. I was chairman of my club for six years. We should not play politics with Cumann Lúthchleas Gael. It is the binding force of unity in communities in our country. I appeal to the management committee of Cumann Lúthchleas Gael to be sensible about the venues that are selected for matches and come up with neutral venues.

I second the proposal of Senator Gallagher about the helpline for those businesses caught up in level 4.

As a former Member of the Lower House, I was once appointed co-chair of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly at a time when unionist participation had never taken place in its 20-year history. I spent the next 21 months alongside former Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland, Mr. Paul Murphy and Mr. Peter Hain, doing everything we could to get participation from unionist parties. I am now a member of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement which met yesterday with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney. That committee now finds itself in a situation similar to the one I was in with the parliamentary assembly and I have asked the Minister to do everything he possibly can to ensure unionist participation.

I ask, with the agreement and support of the House if possible, that the Leader writes to both the Taoiseach and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, with the support of the Upper House, for us in the Oireachtas to do everything we can to ensure that unionists are encouraged and facilitated to join the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. We know the work that is possible with a shared island now being put together and the €500 million pot for projects across the island over the next five years so it is imperative that this happens. I ask the Leader to facilitate a debate with the Minister for Transport and the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media to discuss a number of projects that were mentioned concerning the €500 million pot. I have a keen interest in the Dublin-Donegal railway line that no longer exists but could very well be one of the great greenways of this country.

If the Senator is agreeable, I would do the same and write to the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste as well. The Senator has made a very good proposal.

It was with great regret that Ryanair announced yesterday that it would close its bases in Shannon and Cork for the winter. The decision was not a surprise because Ryanair is a private company that must make commercial decisions.

Next Tuesday, at Cabinet, the Minister for Transport will make a proposal to provide funding for Shannon and Cork airports and other airports. I sincerely hope that the funding package will be significant. I hope that it will facilitate capital investment in the airport and help the airport with its operational costs.

I ask the Leader to facilitate a debate on transport, particularly on Shannon and Cork airports, after the Government announcement was made because it is critical that this House analyses, with the Minister present, the details of the package of measures that will be available to airports. I appeal to him to ensure that the package is large enough to sustain the airport not just through the pandemic but to facilitate it developing and building. People reckon that 2024 will be the next year we will see figures like 2019 but that is four years away. A lot of critical work needs to be done in the intervening period. We are an island nation and the west of Ireland is deeply dependent on air travel. It is critical for us to have a debate whereby the Minister outlines his proposal to make the airports sustainable.