  We use Gemini Near-Infrared Integral Field Spectrograph (NIFS) observations
of the inner 3.5$\times$3.5 kpc$^2$ of the radio galaxy Cygnus A to map the gas
excitation and kinematics at a spatial resolution of 200 pc. The emission of
the ionised gas shows a biconical morphology, with half-opening angle of
45$^\circ$ and oriented along the position angle of the radio jet. Coronal line
emission is seen within the cone, up to 1.75 kpc from the nucleus, with higher
ionisation gas observed in the easterly side. The H$_2$ and [Fe II] emission
lines are consistent with excitation by the central AGN, with some contribution
of shocks to the southwest of the nucleus. The gas visual extinction and
electron density are larger than those from optical-based measurements,
consistent with the fact that near-IR observations penetrate deeply into the
gas emission structure, probing denser and more obscured regions. The gas
kinematics shows two components: (i) a rotating disc with kinematic position
angle of $\Psi_0=21^\circ\pm2^\circ$, seen both in ionised and molecular gas,
and (ii) outflows with velocities of up to 600 kms$^{-1}$ observed within the
ionisation cone in ionised gas and restricted to inner 0.5 arcsec in molecular
gas. The mass outflow rate in ionised gas is in the range $\sim100-280 {\rm
M_\odot yr^{-1}}$ and the kinetic power of the outflow corresponds to 0.3-3.3
per cent of the AGN bolometric luminosity, indicating that the outflows in
Cygnus A may be effective in suppressing star formation.
