Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Scollan and Mr. Gilmore for their presentation. I do not wish to get into an argument about Shannon and Knock airports because both provide a great service to their respective areas. I was interested to learn that for an airport to be sustainable it needed to handle approximately 1.5 million passengers. Knock's passenger numbers are currently 700,000 and are moving towards the 1 million mark. How will it reach the 1.5 million threshold? Will it look to develop international routes, industry in the airport, cargo services or other ways of increasing business? Is it at a disadvantage due to the nature of the links in the north west? It is the only part of the country that has not been linked up with the motorway network, whereas Shannon has an advantage in terms of motorway access. The failure to complete the motorway network in the north west is a disaster not only for the region, but also the entire country.

I ask for clarification about how the community trust works. The witnesses indicated that Ireland West Airport is community owned but they also say it is a private airport. How does that system work? If the airport is a community trust, it would appear to belong to the people.

Knock receives a small subsidy from the State. I assume the Government intends to continue that subsidy. The witnesses have not indicated that the subsidy is under threat. We know what is planned for Shannon in terms of writing off its debts and allowing it to stand on its own. The competition between Shannon and Knock will be intense and I would not like to see bitter infighting break out between the two.