Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thankful the Minister and Minister of State for the presentation and their ongoing work. I appreciate that a review of the mid-term position of the aviation policy is now possible, as was said. I hope this will be more than a review and that it will lead to concrete changes. That is the expectation.

I will concentrate on a few aspects, and again these are somewhat parochial. The issue of the Shannon Heritage sites must be resolved. Failure is not an option. While I understand a level of jockeying is going on regarding who will fill the gap, the reality is that Clare County Council cannot be burdened with the whole cost. I thank the Minister and the Minister of State and their officials for their ongoing engagement with me. They have listened on every occasion and we have gone through this many times. We have to set a deadline. It would be great to get it done by Christmas, which I accept would be a tight deadline. If not, could we at least set a deadline to have this resolved by the end of January? If this deadline were set, it would force people's hand. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, are prepared to come a little of the way. I believe there must also be input from Shannon airport. It is offloading an asset that is costly to maintain. It must get some benefits from that. A significant amount of the debt has been written off and that is welcome, but a little bit more effort and a little bit of goodwill over the next two to three years could make this a success. We must put this matter to bed. I ask the Minister of State to respond.