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

Yes. To answer the Deputy's question directly, there is a 3 million passenger threshold for other countries in the EU. Again, I ask people to feed into that as part of the mid-term review. Currently, Cork Airport is outside the threshold for this year and next year because it is doing so well. Shannon Airport is doing very well; it is almost at one million passengers. We have to look at the Exchequer implications if we increase the threshold to 3 million passengers in addition to the impact it would have on other airports throughout Ireland. The regional airports programme supports safety and security measures. The funding goes towards those measures. Therefore, the question that needs to be asked is whether only funding security and safety measures will increase connectivity. What is the ask here? The ask is to ensure we are connected regionally and internationally. Thresholds might not be the best way forward if the purpose is to redirect traffic and have more people using our airports and the regions. I am asking the question.