Ms Mary Considine:

I do not agree that the crisis has been used in that way. At the start of this year none of us would have envisaged the devastation this pandemic would cause for our businesses. As outlined in my submission, we had projected growth for Shannon Heritage this year. We had expanded the portfolio and taken on a new attraction. The position we are in is very disappointing. The fact remains that our visitor base and revenues have collapsed. We have had to take difficult temporary decisions this year.

In response to the question on Shannon Heritage, I note that the protection of national monuments, which is obviously our obligation, is very difficult for a commercial entity. The Shannon Group has a commercial mandate.

We do not receive Exchequer funding. Consequently, each of our activities has to generate a commercial return and this, in turn, allows for capital investment. In the context of the work we have done in Shannon Heritage since 2014, we have invested €6 million in the business, we have addressed some of the historic underinvestment relating to it and we have moved it from a loss-making business to making a profit at an operational level. That was important because that then allowed us to start to invest money back into improving the product. We were also working closely with Fáilte Ireland to secure capital grant funding for the redevelopment of Bunratty Folk Park under the platform for growth scheme so we have strong ambitions for the group-----