Ms Mary Considine:

I thank the Deputy. As Mr. Philips said, we have critical maintenance work that needs to be done in the airport on an ongoing basis. Our airport averages €7 million to €8 million per annum for maintenance, safety, security and regulatory work. We included that in our budgets for next year and we welcomed the Government support of €5 million towards the completion of those projects for 2021. We have to put a level of matched funding against it and that is a challenge in the context of the significant losses we are incurring this year. That is why, in addition to capital support, we have asked to be included in the regional airports programme, which will provide a level of operational funding as well. Airports with fewer than 3 million passengers per year under EU state aid are entitled to get that support. However, the State-owned airports of Shannon and Cork do not currently get Exchequer support.