I welcome the people from Limerick who have arrived in the Chamber who are with Councillor Noreen Stokes. They have arrived at an opportune time and I pay tribute to Noreen. Her family, friends and supporters have helped her since she got elected and they are all very welcome.

I want to raise two issues regarding regional balance and call for two debates. One is on the almost 3,000 people who are registered for apprenticeships with Limerick and Clare ETB. Apprenticeship is an area that is expanding very much and it is a topic we need to have a debate on as to how we can expand apprenticeships. Third level education does not always work for everybody. Certainly people who go into apprenticeships do very well. They are working along with the likes of TUS, UL and the education and training boards in terms of developing their skills. It is an area we should look at on a national basis.

Last Sunday, 28 June, more than 11,000 passengers went through Shannon Airport. We have a debate later today on raising the cap on Dublin Airport, which is in the Fingal area. I believe we have to have balanced regional development around airports. I would like the Minister for Transport to come to the House for a debate on how we can better utilise all of our airports. We have so many airports. In the first quarter of this year 1.2 million people travelled out of Shannon Airport, which is way up on other years. I would like a debate on this.