Ms Mary Considine:

There are two key points. We have all talked about the regional airports programme and its importance. What we are asking specifically is that it would be aligned with EU state aid rules, which specifies a 3 million threshold.

Airports have a critical role in the regions in delivering Ireland's strategy for balanced development. It is not balanced today. It is about looking at the distribution of economic activity in the country, the role the airports outside of Dublin have to play in that, and the national balance.