We are dealing with the Order of Business and I want to speak on an important aspect of that. Senators McDowell and Norris and I tabled an amendment regarding President Zelenskyy's address tomorrow. I believe we made our point. The Seanad can shine a light on many issues and we did so last night. The national media covered it. Our main concern was about the continuous and horrific images of civilians lying dead on the streets of Bucha. It is a matter for us and, personally, I believe it was important that we send a strong message to the Russian ambassador that he is not welcome in our parliamentary house of democracy. That is my view and I believe it is worth saying. I and my colleagues who tabled the amendment wanted to make it very clear that we did not believe it was right or appropriate to invite the ambassador of Russia to our House, the people's house and the house of democracy in this country. I want to put it on the record that, considering all matters equal and what has happened, while the ambassador has not declined the invitation, he has not accepted it. We will await what happens but I am now pretty confident the ambassador will not arrive on the lawns of Leinster House tomorrow morning.

I want to be associated with the remarks of welcome to Senator Clonan. I have had the pleasure of meeting him on a number of occasions both here and in other parts of the city and, indeed, on various radio programmes. I have always found him to be a respectful, insightful and interesting man, and I always felt that if he made it into the Oireachtas he would have something to offer. His skill set, not just in the disability sector, and I rarely met him without him being in the company of his son, Eoghan, will be very helpful in shaping policy and debate in this House. I also believe his military experience and the way he shone a light on the internal machinations, as it were, of military life are very important, especially at a time we as a society and a country are having a debate about our military neutrality. He will bring a particular insight that will be helpful in that regard.

At approximately 1 p.m. yesterday, the Dublin Airport Authority issued a tweet effectively telling customers that if they are travelling at peak times they should expect delays of approximately three and a half hours. An addendum advised that if people happened to be bringing a car, they should add another half an hour. For the premier airport in the State to find itself in that situation is appalling, and there is a reason for it finding itself there. It has engaged in predatory practices in attracting airlines and passengers to dominate the entire sector. Airports such as Shannon have been left to wither on the vine. There was massive growth in passenger traffic prior to 2019. Dublin got the bulk of it and Cork, Mayo and Kerry got little bits of it.

Shannon got precious little. From the time Shannon was separated from Dublin, it engaged in predatory practices, it reduced landing charges and it grabbed it all. In the middle of the pandemic, it let people go, with voluntary redundancies, again to improve its capital position. Until such time as we have a legislative basis for managing our aviation sector, the carry-on in Dublin will continue. It is hugely damaging to our tourism industry for people to be told they will have to wait. Can anyone imagine getting a flight to Donegal to be told they need to rock into Dublin Airport four hours in advance? They would have rowed a boat to London quicker than they would get there now with the carry-on.

Thank you. I am conscious of time.

I want to conclude on this. It amazes me that the board and senior management have not resigned at this stage. It is appalling what they have allowed to happen.