Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

One of the eye-openers of the past 18 months has been the minuscule level of air cargo into and out of Shannon Airport. Apart from a Turkish Airlines 747 which lands there quite regularly, DHL flights etc, there is very little cargo traffic. Some 1% of cargo leaving Ireland goes by air. I was alarmed to see crates of cargo from Boston Scientific, each valued at €1 million, on pallets on the apron of Shannon Airport to be trucked overnight to Heathrow, to fly back over our skies again to the United States.

We all talk about passengers who go on the ground and spent money in Ms Fitzgerald Kane's hotel and other hotels throughout the region. Based on its long runway, the capacity of its hangers etc., does Mr. Thompstone envisage the potential for more air cargo into and out of Shannon airport in tandem with this? I thank Mr. Thompstone and Ms Fitzgerald Kane.