Mr. Basil Geoghegan:

I thank the Senator for his positive comments. I noted certain points he made regarding the communications manager etc. at Cork. I will pick up on the main thrust of his question. I noted, and I am sure it was a slip of the tongue, that he referred to the Dublin Airport Authority. I remind everyone that we are the DAA and we have a broader mandate. Indeed, pre-Covid, I was lucky enough to get down to Cork, where we had a board meeting and I met many members of the advisory council, which was great.

I completely take on board the Senator's point about representation on the board. I will make a couple of points. Clearly, we are a unitary board and everybody who comes in the door to the board sheds their baggage, so to speak, and acts to the benefit of the company as a whole so we are not representing different communities etc. However, diversity on the board across all sorts of measures, including geographic background, is important. The Senator is correct in stating that we had Gerry Walsh, who retired, and that one of our worker-directors from Cork is not seeking re-election. I understand the Public Appointments Service, PAS, will shortly advertise for a new director of the DAA. It would be particularly helpful for us if the Senator uses his good offices to persuade good people to come forward, which makes it easier for the PAS to put good people in front of the Minister.