Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and his team. I have a number of points to raise, and I hope I can go through them with him and have an exchange of views.

I join others in congratulating Pádraig Ó Céidigh on taking up his role as chairman of the Shannon Group. It is a very positive appointment. We finally have someone who understands aviation. There are many fine businesspeople in the mid-west, but one does not necessarily need an agribusiness or economics degree to run an airport and all the catalyst activity it stimulates. Aviation is needed, as is someone with a knowledge of the west, and we are ticking both boxes with that appointment. I say well done to the Minister on appointing him and I wish Pádraig Ó Céidigh well.

The new chairman should be given a slightly adjusted role for the next few months given the current turbulent time in aviation. Shannon is positioned to recover, but it is crucial that it is done in the right way. Mr. Ó Céidigh should be given some form of executive role in the coming months so that he is not just chairing board meetings, but is on-site in the airport and working in tandem with Mary Considine. I urge the Minister to look at that because Mr. Ó Céidigh is answerable to him. Following the meeting the Minister might communicate to the board that he would like him to be hands-on for the coming months as he begins his tenure.

On the same matter, when does the board of the Shannon Group expire? The Minister might not know the answer. There are many fine individuals but, as I stated, agribusiness, economics degrees and financial backgrounds are not what we are about; we want aviation people. A shake-up of the make-up of the board is required rather than getting rid of everyone. That would be positive.