Mr. Liam Scollan:

We will deal with these questions as briefly and effectively as possible. The first question concerned the level of engagement with the Department and the Minister and whether Knock has a sustainable future in the context of the decisions about Shannon. We have had 50 meetings in the past 18 months with political and Civil Service representatives, particularly those from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, so there has been a significant level of engagement. We met with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport on 5 July 2012, at which time we presented the full plans from Knock. Prior to that, we presented our thoughts on the expansion of tourism to various Ministers, including the Minister of State with responsibility for tourism and sport, Deputy Ring. In the meeting with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, we pointed out the dangers of pursuing a one-track approach with Shannon and said that we supported the Shannon initiative but that it needed to be done in parallel or there would be potential legal and State aid implications. When those meetings went no further, we then felt it was important for us to take the matter to the Taoiseach and we look forward to meeting him and whoever else the Government will bring to the table to discuss what has been happening and how we can resolve this without legal recourse. Have we a sustainable future in the face of this? Any company facing this would say it did not. Knock will not say that. We have fought through difficulties for 27 years. We were built in a recession and we are in a recession now, but we will keep going. It will take a lot to stop us and a lot to stop us expanding. There is no point in being silly and thinking we can continue to do this in the face of this type of competition, but we are not going to give up.

Deputy Mulherin asked what the Department's view of Knock airport was. The Department has told us repeatedly that the Minister's clear view is that the Department is engaging with the State airports and it sees Knock as a private entity - the Department's words, not ours - and, therefore, there will be no funding for Knock after 2014 unless additional funds were made available from the Exchequer. A question was asked about funding after 2014. The default position is that no funding will be made available after 2014.

A question was asked about what our contribution to the region is and how many people we employ.

The answer is 100 people in winter and up to 150 in the summer with a contribution of €111 million to tourism with a gross value added of €17 million. We have expert reports from Ernst & Young on this.