Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said there would be air link from both Donegal and Derry to Dublin if he had his way.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said there would be air link from both Donegal and Derry to Dublin if he had his way.
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00:00I want to raise the very serious matter in relation to the Donegal Dublin flight
00:04Thornchester with you. It's the state's only public service obligation service.
00:07It has that status because no motorway, no rail and it's remoteness. The
00:12airline operating the service has been told that it has to reduce its
00:15passenger numbers by 5%. The chairperson of the airline has said that this now
00:20questions the viability of this service. Thornchester, the service is vital not
00:24just for tourism, for business, but there's 430 cancer patients that use
00:28that, that currently use that service to access their treatment in Dublin. So the
00:31point I make to you is this is Ireland's only public service obligation flight.
00:35Surely the passenger cap should not apply to a public service obligation and
00:41I'm asking the government to make that clear to the relevant authorities.
00:44I'd agree. I'd have to follow this through with the Minister. Is this the
00:50Dublin airport passenger cap? That has to stop. We have to have regional connectivity and the
01:01North West particularly suffers from a lack of connectivity either by rail, by
01:05road as you know with the A5 debate and we have to keep the air links open to
01:11the North West. If I had my way I'd prefer Derry also to be with Donegal to
01:16have an air connection and that's something that can be sorted.