Ms Rose Hynes:

We are very proud of what we have achieved, particularly in the Shannon free zone. As I said, occupancy stood at 43% when we took over the zone and many of the buildings were not fit for purpose. That has completely changed now. We have spent over €40 million since 2015. We have built new buildings and demolished some of the unsuitable ones and we have refurbished other buildings. We have brought in new tenants, like Jaguar Land Rover, which have two buildings there as one drives into the airport. That is phenomenal for Shannon and is a game changer. Edwards Lifesciences are new tenants as well.

We have set up a brand called the International Aviation Services Centre, IASC, which attempts to cluster the aviation activity in and around Shannon. That has gone from having 40 members in the cluster to 83 now. There are two new aircraft leasing companies in Shannon, which is very dear to my heart as I came from GPA, the first of those leasing companies. These are two new small companies also and that is big for Shannon. Having the IASC brand to cluster the aviation activity is proving to be very successful because various companies feed off one another. That has been really good.

We have focused on turning Shannon free zone around and I believe that we are well on the way in doing that. We have done this in a very short period and I am very proud of that.