Mr. Willie Walsh:

I was pleased to have my first opportunity to meet the Minister yesterday. He stressed all of the points I have heard made today. I have not heard anything that he did not raise with me yesterday. He pushed very hard on a commitment to operate services from Shannon and Cork airports. It is not the case that these issues were raised during this meeting only; the Minister pushed me hard on them. The points made have been reinforced by the committee and I am pleased to be able to respond. I hope this will be seen as a positive response to the issue of the Shannon to Heathrow and Cork to Heathrow slots.

The next move is really in the hands of the Minister and the panel that is investigating on his behalf, whom we met yesterday. They have sought some additional information from us. We will provide that as soon as we can. As I understand it, it will ultimately be for the panel to make a recommendation to the Minister, the Minister to make a recommendation to the Cabinet, the Cabinet to make a decision and then if it all flows through finally for the Minister for Finance to make a proposal to Dáil Éireann which would require a vote. So it is in the hands of the panel and the Minister. He would probably be able to give the committee much more clarity on that.

Normally if one can grow Dublin, one will grow Shannon as well on the transatlantic. What we have seen historically is that there is very strong demand from the US. It is not that there is not demand outbound from the west of Ireland, but there is very strong demand inbound. There is an Irish diaspora of 40 million to 50 million people, principally on the east coast. I see no reason for that not to continue and grow, particularly with the strength of American Airlines in that market, the brand presence it has-----