Mr. Kenny Jacobs:

I thank the Chairman. Our presentation will focus on the summer-readiness of Cork and Dublin. We are already in the middle of summer, from our point of view, so we will go through the key parts. Mr. MacCarthy will do Cork and Mr. McLean will do Dublin. I will do a general business update on a few other important topics, like the cap at Dublin Airport. We will use a presentation which we will get through in less than 15 minutes. The focus is on the basics of running two busy airports in the summer, on innovation across Dublin and Cork airports and the rest of DAA group, and on growth at Cork, Dublin and across our duty free business and international business.

A couple of weeks ago we had our AGM and issued our full-year results for 2023. We are very satisfied with the operational, commercial and financial performance of DAA Group. We had in excess €1 billion in revenue for the first time ever. We contributed €153 million in taxes to the Exchequer. We are happy we are paying a €31 million dividend to the State in 2023.

Managing debt continues to be an issue for every airport group. We took on about €1 million debt per day during the pandemic as airports were nearly shut around Europe. We are still sitting on €815 million in debt that we need to work through. We put a dent in that last year and need to continue to do that. We are driving efficiency across the business and facing cost headwinds. Ireland is an expensive place to do business. Driving non-aero revenue for us means selling more car parking spaces, lounges, fast-track, duty free products, foods and beverages and everything else we can sell to passengers at Dublin and Cork.

We have a huge focus on improving service quality for passengers. Mr. MacCarthy and Mr. McLean will describe that in greater detail for Cork and Dublin. We are satisfied with the situation in Cork Airport; 95% of passengers are satisfied with the airport. In Dublin there has been a huge improvement. In 2023, passengers in Dublin were 37% more satisfied than in the previous year. That is a big increase. Cork is at 95% and Dublin Airport is at around an 85% customer satisfaction rate, both very high for European airports. A big mission we have is to give passengers a very consistent and resilient experience at both airports so people can go on holidays or business trips and the airport never gets in their way.

We are driving domestic and international growth. We are planning a Cork Airport that can service demand of passengers up to 5 million. We plan to expand Dublin Airport to 40 million with the infrastructure application we lodged in December of last year. We are managing growth through a portfolio of duty free operations. In 27 airports around the world, we run duty free shops and we also run three terminals in three airports in Saudi Arabia. We are proud to fly the flag for Irish aviation in other parts of the world from an operational and duty free point of view. Dublin and Cork airports are our bread and butter. That is where we need to get it right for our core constituents - the citizens of Ireland who are passengers at those airports.

We are investing in people. We are satisfied to have done a three-year pay deal that the vast majority of our staff voted in favour of. Relationships are in a good place. The staff surveys we do indicate our staff are happy. I believe if you want to get it right for passengers, you have to get it right for staff. We will continue to make investments in entry levels and all levels of pay. That three-year pay deal would not have been agreed by staff if they were not happy with it. There is a big focus on training and a big improvement in retention. Retention of staff in Dublin and Cork airports in critical roles has never been better. It is about 5%, much healthier than most retail businesses around the country and other airports. We are satisfied with that.

Challenges remain. The 32 million cap at Dublin is a great concern. We are doing everything we can to comply with the cap but we are worried the system may force us into a breach. It is too early to say. Ironically, the potential Aer Lingus strikes will help with compliance because they could take out a chunk of passengers in the summer depending on the shape they take. Managing debt and rising costs are ongoing challenges, as are transforming into a zero carbon business by 2050 and reducing emissions by 51% by 2030. Aviation, airports and airlines need to do more but we are on that mission and absolutely believe in it. We want to build and that will improve emissions at Dublin Airport. Ultimately, the same will happen at Cork Airport.

That is a general introduction to where we are at on basics, innovation and growth, which is what our airport group is all about. I will hand over to Mr. MacCarthy, who will provide an update on Cork Airport.