Mr. Eddie Wilson:

I do not agree with the idea that just because capacity increases in Dublin, it somehow or other means there is going to be an automatic reduction in the capacity or attractiveness of Shannon. Shannon has plenty of capacity for us to grow in terms of contact stands and terminal capacity in particular. It is all about Shannon making itself more attractive. The Senator will know that huge effort has gone into building the infrastructure in Shannon. Land Rover and companies like that have put in some of their research and development there. There are other engineering companies as well and they are trying to build up that sort of industrial park space around there. That in itself creates people who will bring employment in and make it more attractive to put roots in there. Shannon will not necessarily be affected by what happens in Dublin. It is its own unique destination but cannot grow as fast. Dublin is Dublin. As we said earlier, Dublin by itself will attract more people into Ireland, and hopefully they will make their way to the mid west as well, but Shannon has done a spectacular job. We had this see-saw approach for many years. To circle back to what the Chair said about what you want from the Department of Transport, it is exactly like what you want from an airport. You want predictability over a long period of time so you can allocate resources. If those resources are going to go to Shannon, or to Ireland, that is why we need that aviation policy so we can plan with certainty for the long term.