Mr. Pádraig Ó Céidigh:

In the past Shannon would have been seen as being in competition with Dublin and various people would have said so. I accept that was the situation. It is going to be a big challenge for me. Indeed, it is one of the key challenges I face but as Senator Gavan knows, if there is not a big challenge, I am not interested. I cannot help it. It is the Connemara in me, it is my DNA. I cannot help it. We should see what we can do for the moment.

I am very cognisant of what happened back in 2012 to 2014, when the people of Shannon and their public representatives were involved in a huge movement to make Shannon Airport independent. They argued that Shannon was being lost in the bigger picture by virtue of being part of the DAA. I want to be respectful of that but that does not mean the airport and the authority should not be connected as they were, prior to 2012. I do not know the answer to that yet but I am more than happy to come back again and have that conversation with Senator Gavan on a one-to-one basis. I would be delighted to meet him at some stage to get his views, input and support on it. I would also be happy to come back to the committee but at this stage, I would prefer to focus on the direction we heading in the short term at least and we will see what success we can achieve from that perspective. That said, it is not something that I would throw out at this stage. It is an important part of the analysis of the long-term future of Shannon Airport and an important part of the debate.