Mr. Pádraig Ó Ríordáin:

All of those factors have an influence. Given that we are running the business on a very strongly business-oriented basis and have a proper strategic plan, I hope the financial performance will continue to improve. I could not agree more that Cork Airport needs the active support of the entire region. The fact that only 37% of people who use Cork are inbound travellers indicates that we are not attracting enough visitors. A general tourism initiative needs to be implemented for Cork. The question of whether there should be a public service obligation, PSO, route from Cork to Dublin is very important for transatlantic connectivity into Cork, through Dublin and on to other airports and as a support to airlines that come into Cork, which could advertise their services abroad. Much can be done and we are working hard on it.

In response to Deputy Terence Flanagan's question regarding the aviation fuel pipeline, I am not quite sure what is the current status. However, we can provide that material to the Deputy separately. I simply do not have the brief to hand at present. As for the connectivity with the city centre, from the point of view of the airport and what we can achieve there over a period and in particular, if we have a second airport - again we are talking in the medium to longer term - that degree of connectivity is very important. Of the options we have reviewed to date, the metro north option is the one we would find preferable because it is a long-term solution. It would give us the capacity into Dublin Airport for the conceivable future development of the airport. In terms of an airport in particular, it is really important to think in the long term, not about what is around the corner next year or the following year. As I stated previously, generations of good boards of management in daa have done this for many years. In terms of a long-term solution, metro north is quite strong.