Deputy Mary Lou McDonald- speech from 13 Dec 2022

Well, Taoiseach, here we are. This is it, our last exchange. And before I put my question to you, which I have no doubt you will answer in full, you will have a fully amplified answer, can I wish you and yours the very, very best for the future, whatever that might bring. Taoiseach, there has been major disruption at Dublin Airport over the last couple of days. Flights in and out of the airport have been cancelled or delayed. People's travel plans have been thrown into chaos. Some were booked on to later flights, many had to make alternative arrangements, others faced the prospect of booking expensive accommodation that they hadn't budgeted for. Airport users have told their stories have been sent from pillar to post, seeking information following the cancellation of their flights. And there has been serious frustration, confusion, and a sense of here we go again. Now, I appreciate that a spell of extreme cold weather presents challenges, Taoiseach, and I also accept that there have been some knock-on effects from disruption at other airports. However, we cannot shy away from the fact that, once again, there has been a real failure to prepare at Dublin Airport, and not a word from Minister Ryan, not a word from government. It seems that the lessons of the summer have gone unlearned. We have a right to expect that part of the contingency planning for winter time at a major European airport would be a plan to keep flights going during a cold snap. And yet, it seems that planning for de-icing of aircraft and runways was only an afterthought, as management was taken by surprise. So, once again, we see authorities scramble around, rather than being prepared for a scenario that was entirely foreseeable. And we have been here before, Taoiseach. In the summer, the failure to plan at Dublin Airport brought chaos. And this situation, as you recall, spiralled out of control because Minister Ryan failed to get to grips with the crisis. And now it seems that Minister Ryan is asleep at the wheel again. Christmas is the busiest time of the year at Dublin Airport. Approximately one million people will pass through the airport during the holidays. It is a time when people reconnect, when so many of our young people who have emigrated will return home to their families and friends. And the only scenes that we should see at Dublin Airport at Christmastime are scenes of joy and happiness and reconnection. We cannot have a return to the mayhem that enveloped the airport during the summer. It is the responsibility of government, and Minister Ryan in particular, to ensure that all preparations are made. We are a small island nation. We rely heavily on our airports to ensure our connectivity with the rest of the world. And along with the personal distress, episodes of significant disruption damage Ireland's international reputation for business and investment. That is the reality. So, Minister Ryan must wake up and do his job to ensure that Dublin Airport runs properly. We cannot afford more chaos. We are in a new way of working towards the group of people who have seen thebuilthai. We are safely at a global labour. And now there is an estimated change in the future. We will lead to the neighbourhood in the first place to ensure that we are still at the moment. We are in the next four Floors. We are celebrating in the first place that we will be involved in. It's such a pleasure to answer and support our staff. We will be working in the second place. It is really good to make a new one. It is true that the десят. And the government must step forward to be proactive. There needs to be a plan for this. So can I ask you? Have you spoken to Minister Ryan about the current disruption at Dublin Airport? Airport? Have you instructed Minister Rhine to immediately intervene so that we do not have a return to travel chaos at Dublin Airport this Christmas? First of all, I thank you for your initial comments. This is its sort of approach. I thought it was an Elvis Presley moment coming on me. I miss you tonight. In the first instance, the National Emergency Coordination Team has been meeting in response to the severe weather situation. I thank you for raising the issue. We are experiencing a period of extremely cold weather. It has settled over Ireland, severe frost, freezing fog, ice, wintry showers and fall of snow. The National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management Crisis Management Team has been meeting daily since Friday, 2 December, liaising closely with Met Airden. The National Emergency Coordination Group was convened and has been meeting daily since Sunday to assess the national and local preparedness in light now of the forecasted prolonged period of extreme cold weather. The group will continue to meet for the duration of this weather event. Minister O'Brien here alongside me was at that meeting on Sunday. He is wide awake and has been wide awake all over the weekend as well in relation to this issue. And in particular met with the DEA. And I think issues that you raised with the DEA do need to be followed through with the DEA. I think we do need to make sure that capacity exists within the Dublin Airport Authority in terms of enough capacity and preparing for extreme weather events to make sure that that key connectivity through aviation is maintained. And agencies are established by law. They are resourced. People are appointed to senior positions. There is an obligation on the agencies to be prepared and to respond to situations like this. That said, Dublin Airport isn't the only airport that has had challenges through this period. Manchester has had challenges. Heathrow has had significant challenges, some of which have spilled over to Dublin Airport. More broadly across the transport sector, the local authority, severe weather assessment teams, they are monitoring the situation, coordinating responses. Winter plans are now in operation. And widespread gritting has happened, as you know, will continue. And indeed, the TII likewise. And there is a sufficiency of salt available across the country to facilitate work on our particularly more dangerous minor roads. And again, we urge the public to be very, very careful out there in respect of travel on our roads in these dangerous times and transport infrastructure. Ireland has taken significant measures well in advance in terms of adequate storage of salt for the season, approximately 200,000 tonnes, and they have a framework available to deal with anything worse. Also, in terms of the homeless situation, in terms of rough sleepers, local authority outreach teams continuing to engage with rough sleepers and encouraging them to avail of the indoor shelter. Likewise, schools, there has been constant coordination between the group and our education system. Could I reassure the Deputy that Eamonn Ryan is not asleep at the wheel, he is very, very active. I know he gets you excited every now and again, Deputy Healey Ray, for different reasons, but as a Covenant colleague with the range of legislation and initiatives and strategic plans that Minister Ryan is bringing through in the last month at least, I can definitely assure the House that he is anything but fast asleep at this particular juncture. Thank you very much. Deputy Secretary McDonough. There is a real concern when people saw scenes of delay and cancellations in the airport that there is just an ongoing lack of preparedness. I accept that the Dublin Airport Authority and the airlines have a case to answer here. Ultimately, public confidence will only be built if there is a sense that Minister Ryan actually has a plan. I accept that others have met and made contingency arrangements during a snap of very hard, cold weather. I think this close to Christmas, with so many people coming home, there has to be public reassurance that the Minister is fully engaged. I would like you to give more detail of that. You said there was a meeting with the Dublin Airport Authority. Can you tell us what was the upshot of that? What is the plan to ensure that the airport is not the only airport on the island, but it is the key hub airport? Also, if I could put it to you, Taoiseach, some local residents have now for a long time been looking for a meeting with Minister Ryan in respect of a change to flight patterns outside of the planning permission that had been granted. If he is, as you claim, wide awake, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I wonder, could he do these residents the good grace of meeting with them? The Minister O'Brien met in the context of the meeting on Sunday with the National Emergency Coordination Group and had an engagement there and a discussion in respect of the preparedness of the Dublin Airport Authority and the issues that arise because of the very, very severe weather that we are experiencing. So the rule on the day of the day is the day of the day. I'm sorry to say that the UNF is not the way to the UNF, but the UNF is the UNF, but the UNF is the UNF. The UNF is the UNF. The UNF is the UNF and the UNF is the UNF, the UNF, the UNF is the UNF, and, and after all, and with the UNF a new 임ul. If we have a new yer, you will come to the UNF Patentum. This should be the UNF and the UNF Пол and if you have time to take care for the UNFace journey towards the stones and the29 of the UNF to step up, and please leave on to tell us the UNF – the UNF and the books and треть to one or the other nations twice. Y ever said. Thanks for that. To him later. First Minister Ryan. I'm a very good one. I'm here to the Oireen. I'm here to the Oireen. I'm here to the Oireen. And I'm here to the Oireen. I'm here to the Oireen. Thank you.