Mr. David McGarry:

Businesses and industries that I am familiar with in the mid-west and western region believe that the focus put on the estuary and the role the airport, port and universities - the whole ecosystem - in the mid-west can play in this opportunity taps into many of the strengths that are present in the region. Everybody is very optimistic and wants it to happen as soon as possible. They would like to work with the State to invest and support it through the right sorts of policies to allow planning to come together faster and in the right way. Certainty around the opportunity for developers who would invest is also needed so that people can pull together. There is definitely support for it. It is a phenomenal socioeconomic opportunity because of the nature of the work, the jobs it would deliver and the way it would future-proof the economy. It is a very high-tech, knowledge-based industry so it would provide good jobs and high incomes to the people involved. That would be very attractive to the people of the region. The mid-west has a knowledge-based economy going back over the last 50 years with the industrial development policy that was put in place in the Shannon region. The expertise and knowledge levels are in the DNA of the people who live there.