Ms Mary Considine:

We likewise implement Government policy but what I would like to note is that since the separation of the airport and, more importantly, the formation of the Shannon Group in 2014 we have seen passenger growth at the airport.

We have seen significant investment in the property portfolio of Shannon Commercial Properties. That is important because the €115 million that we as a group have invested across the airport campus and the Shannon free zone has stimulated economic activity in the region. We have grown the cluster of aviation companies from 40 to well over 80. Fourteen new companies joined the aviation cluster last year.

Last year in Shannon we built the first aircraft hangar to be built in Ireland in more than 20 years, and it was completed in January of this year. It was a significant project. As such we are very committed to our mandate from Government to promote aviation and to optimise the return on our land and property assets. It is very important that we attract new industry into the region and that it is sustainable because air services on their own will not survive without a strong regional economy and, as I have said, the air services coming into Shannon are vitally important for business and tourism.

We as a group have also increased visitor numbers to our heritage sites and in totality that is really important to the well-being of the region.