Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is welcome to the committee. She touched on the €90 million allocation for aviation Covid supports. That funding is welcome and members of this committee have pushed for it. It will help airlines re-establish key strategic routes and, in the case of Shannon Airport, it will help with routes to Heathrow, Boston and New York. It is encouraging to see those services reconnected. The Minister of State will remember meeting representatives of Shannon Chamber of Commerce who did a paper on this matter.

I welcome that Shannon Airport has been included in the regional airports funding programme, for which this committee also pushed. While those supports are to take account of the current position, looking forward, can the Minister of State give an assurance Shannon Airport will continue to be included in that funding programme? With respect to the €90 million allocation, can she give a commitment that this type of funding will be made available to our State airports going forward?

It is projected we will not return to 2019 passenger traffic levels until 2024. The Minister of State will be aware that in 2019, Shannon Airport contributed €3.6 billion to GDP and underpinned 43,500 direct and indirect jobs. It is of critical importance that the airport and airlines have certainty in order that they can plan into the future. I would welcome an assurance from the Minister of State that funding will be made available to help the aviation industry to get back on its feet and underpin those routes in the years ahead.