Mr. Liam Scollan:

We are a commercial operation and we have an excellent professional relationship with Ryanair, Lufthansa and Flybe. They all work with us which is why we expand; they are our customers and we treat them as customers. We are delighted Michael O'Leary has such confidence in Knock airport. At the same time one cannot ignore the implications, perhaps not this year but next year and after, of the anti-competitive nature of the decisions made this week by the Government. Shannon Airport will be able to offer large financial incentives to airlines to undertake routes and Knock airport will not. This is the gist of it. The level of engagement between the Government and Shannon Airport with regard to route development is staggering. We are interested in talking to US airlines and Mr. Gilmore has done an excellent job in attracting new routes. Recently he was in discussions with a large US airline but the following week the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport had discussions in the US with the same airline during which he encouraged it to undertake routes to Shannon Airport. Despite comments such as those made by Michael O'Leary, when it comes to international traffic it is very difficult for a lean management team, a little less than half of which is sitting before the committee, to compete with the might of the State in route development.