Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree. I regularly use Shannon Airport. It provides a fantastic service and the staff do incredible work. The passenger numbers at the airport have increased significantly this past year. There are transatlantic flights and extra connectivity through Ryanair. It has grown from strength to strength. It shows the work that has been done. Much of this was on foot of coming out of Covid-19 and using the Exchequer funding we gave to airports to do what they do best. It was not so much handouts and funding for the sake of funding; this was Shannon Group showing it is able to negotiate with airlines and win extra connectivity. What I want to do as part of the mid-term review of the regional airports programme is to reach out to tourism, local stakeholders and the chambers of commerce which contact me and Oireachtas Members regularly with regard to doing more to drive traffic into the regions. This is not only with regard to the airport in Shannon but also those in Knock, Donegal and Kerry. This is why public consultation is very important. It is so that we get good constructive feedback on how we can do this. The Minister Deputy Ryan spoke about sustainable aviation fuels and the mid-west region. There is great potential from a business point of view.