Beijing calling?
I whole heartedly feel that instead of funding routes such as Derry - Dublin which has what 9 passengers a day? This subsidy money could go towards eastern routes. The likes of Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul etc. Yes it may incur heavy costs at first, but give business an opportunity to grow between Ireland and the likes of China, and I'm sure you'd find after 4-5 years that these routes would finally fund themselves. Some will say why should they fund unprofitable routes, but would they truly be unprofitable, this business that occur as a result could probably easily provide the tax and then some needed to pay for the routes. We're an English speaking country in Europe (The worlds largest economy) and have no awkward history with China, we must take advantage of it. Maybe further reasons to introduce Chinese as a compulsory subject in schools!