Mr. Pádraig Ó Céidigh:

Go raibh míle maith agat. I very much appreciate Deputy Carey's support. His and his colleagues' commitment to Shannon Airport is one of the biggest reasons I went for this role. It runs pretty deep with a lot of people, including those up here in Leinster House. One of the Deputy's colleagues told me that as a child of five, six, seven or eight years of age, they used to go to Shannon Airport on Sundays to see the planes land and have a bit of lunch there. It is deep-rooted in the community and in the area. It is a huge privilege for me to be offered this opportunity and the Deputy is right that I am going to give it my best shot.

I refer to two matters. The first is stakeholders. The point the Deputy raised is critically important because no one person can bring Shannon Airport back to where it deserves to be, needs to be and should be. We are all in this together and I am 100% committed to having open, frequent and honest engagement with all the stakeholders. The committee members, as public representatives, have a hugely important role to play as stakeholders in relation to the future of Shannon Airport and if they are not actively involved in working with, supporting and challenging me, the board and the management team, the progress we make will be very small and slow. For the next three years during which I will be chairman, it is going to be an active engagement scenario with all the stakeholders, the management team, the staff and the business communities. As the Deputy said, those business communities are very supportive of me and I am privileged and humbled by that. I am keen to engage with them and get their input and views because I am not able to do this on my own. However, together we can put Shannon Airport on the map and I am confident of that.

From a board perspective and as already indicated, the big objective is to get us back to 2019 levels. That includes three Heathrow flights a day and transatlantic routes. We are going to do everything in our power to achieve that but the support of the committee and of key stakeholders is important.

The Deputy made a point about Dublin Airport that is very important. I am delighted that Dublin Airport has done as well as it has and I wish it every success in the future. I received a message from the CEO of the Dublin Airport Authority, Dalton Philips, offering his congratulations and support, and offering to co-operate and work with me and with us in any way he possibly can, which I welcome. This is not an either-or situation. This is about working together for Ireland Inc. We have a slightly different roles and objectives. Shannon Airport has an objective for that region and Dublin Airport has a slightly different objective in the same industry. There is no reason, in the context of a small island with a population of approximately 5 million. for us not to work together and create a win-win situation. One of the first things I will be looking at is how we can work with Dublin Airport to create a win-win situation.