Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will start by confirming to the Chairman that I am in the convention centre.

I thank Mr. Thompstone for his presentation. I was very interested in reading the traffic recovery support scheme, TRSS, statement on how that would work. Perhaps Mr. Thompstone will give us some figures on how he came up with the projected numbers that he has. I assume that they are coming from the European model of what will come out after recovery. Mr. Thompstone has answered most of the questions I had about being back to the 2019 levels, and if the airlines do not reach that level they do not get a refund or whatever. Obviously then there is the exponential growth and the more flights they bring in the more passengers they bring in. I do not have to tell anyone in this room how important the flights are - especially those Shannon-Heathrow connections - for the economy, for business and for families. A lot of Irish people have family connections in the UK and there are ongoing connections too. Will Mr. Thompstone outline for the committee the concerns that the chamber is getting from business people? Are they concerned about the cabin crew base going from Shannon? Do the businesses see this as a threat to the Heathrow slot? Are they telling the IHF that they are concerned about that? Will Mr. Thompson give us feedback on what he is hearing from the businesses?

I would also like some more information on how Mr. Thompstone has modelled the figures. I worked in the travel industry for 19 years and I know how difficult it is to get routes in and especially to bring them back once they have ceased being with an airline. My time is very short and I appreciate Mr. Thompstone answering those questions.