Irish Examiner view: Set free Cork and Shannon

Regional airport autonomy

Cork and Shannon were included in the Regional Airport Programme during the pandemic and say they have benefited greatly from it.

This week Cork and Shannon airports appealed to the joint Oireachtas transport committee for permanent inclusion in the Regional Airport Programme, an EU programme designed to support airports with fewer than 1m passengers per annum.

Cork and Shannon were included in the scheme during the pandemic and say they have benefited greatly from it. 

Now that travel restrictions have been lifted and people are flying in greater numbers, the two airports wish to be kept in the scheme.

The usual stumbling block to such appeals is EU approval, but it has been pointed out that airports with fewer than 3m passengers per year can avail of the scheme, which would allow Cork and Shannon to remain as participants.

This seems difficult to argue against. Greater connectivity can only benefit the entire country, and aiding the development of these two regional airports is not only desirable but necessary.

It is not so long ago that there were chaotic scenes in Dublin Airport as passengers faced delays of several hours when trying to access flights. 

Clearly, if there were a wider ranger of flights available in Cork and Shannon the pressure on Dublin would ease considerably, while the spinoff benefits to tourism and overall regional growth would be immense.

Offering a real alternative to Dublin Airport would be a fair test of the Government’s commitment to the regions and a significant contribution to improving the user experience in the capital’s airport. 

An increase in autonomy for the Cork and Shannon airports would be another consequence of such a development, and surely nobody could be against that?