Mr. Gary McLean:

Good afternoon. I thank everyone for their time. As Mr. Jacobs said and Mr. MacCarthy alluded to, we are focused on running a consistent, smooth operation at Dublin Airport. I work with a team of more than 2,000 people who are dedicated to delivering 24-7 that consistent experience and making it the best it can possibly be. In an airport like Dublin, there is, as members can imagine, a lot going on. There are many twists and turns on any given day and our team respond magnificently to them. What we are there for is to work with our partners and stakeholders to ensure the passenger experience is as positive as it can be at each point in time.

Naturally for a summer period, which is the busiest part of our year, we do a lot of planning. As Mr. Jacobs alluded to, we were very keen to make a step-change from a really positive year last year into the year ahead. Passengers have great choice in Dublin Airport and more choice than ever. There are 2,600 departing flights each week across 45 airlines, with more than 200 flights a week to the United States. We are the fifth-best connected hub in Europe to the US, which is something we are very proud of and which is aligned to the national aviation policy we will really focus on improving. Already this year we have had a really busy but positive start to the summer. In May, more than 3 million passengers passed through Dublin Airport. We had the busiest day ever for transfer passengers and the busiest day yet for departing passengers for the US. That part of the business continues to grow and is a key focus of ours.

May was a really successful month for us and that was shown when we managed the additional traffic that came with the Europa League final. In excess of 20,000 fans came and went from Dublin within a short period of time. We had the teams, UEFA delegates and their guests. We managed more than 70 additional aircraft during those few days, which totalled more than 150 additional movements and everyone had a really positive experience coming in and going out through the airport. That proved we are ready for what is coming at us in the summer ahead. I thank all the staff for the work so far in managing in May and everyone is focused on continuing to deliver that through the summer ahead as we welcome in excess of 10 million passengers over the peak months.

Similar to Mr. MacCarthy, we have done a lot of work on the summer ahead. All of our teams have worked together with our stakeholders and listened to our passengers. We had a passenger forum earlier in the year where we took feedback from them and fed it into our summer plans. I will not go through it all, but at a high level we have resources. We have recruited more than 300 within my areas in advance of the summer season. We are managing well through those peaks at the moment and we will continue to do that through the summer. Our commitment is to have 90% of passengers through security in under 20 minutes and we are running in excess of 95% through in under 20 minutes so far this year. That is in addition to managing a really challenging project within the space. I am sure members are aware of the benefits that will come both from a security compliance and a passenger experience point of view with our new C3 technology and our body scanners, but implementing that is not without its challenges. We have 14 scanners operational, with ten in terminal 2 and four in terminal 1. That means more people rather than fewer will go through the new scanners as they pass through the airport this summer. We are continuing to roll that out in terminal 2. We have paused terminal 1 for the next number of months because of how busy it is and the fact we need to reinforce floors as part of the installation of the next units. We obviously cannot do that in the busy summer period.

As part of the review we are focused on all our passenger types. It is an airport for all, as it says in the slide. We have introduced a new autism-friendly sensory room in terminal 1 to add to the terminal 2 room, which has been really well-used and well-received. We have also refurbished it. We have looked at our family experience and introduced entertainment on all our piers for families.

We have really focused on the standards and the basics, as Mr. Jacobs alluded to previously. This includes our cleaning standards and allocating more hours to that. Also included are things that passengers want. Regarding additional seating, this is always a challenge in the airport but we have added 350 more seats. We have also added additional charter facilities and all those basics passengers want across their journey. A lot of work, which is not necessarily visible to passengers, has also been going on around the airfield performance as well. The new runway has been in place now for almost two years. This will get greater efficiency out of the airport and result in better performance in the system overall as we roll out our services for this summer.

Similar to Mr. MacCarthy, we are always seeking to innovate and improve. I will not go through all the factors in this regard, but I can summarise them. Our passengers have told us that they want to be more in control and have more choice. Our new app and better Wi-Fi allow them to be more in control as they move through the airport. Passengers have also looked for additional choice and different products. We are introducing and have introduced new products like valet parking, new and better lounges and more choices and varieties across those. As I mentioned, passengers have also called for a better passenger experience, so we are focusing on improvements across the terminal, improved look and feel for our lobbies, improved wayfinding, new toilets and toilets being moved from landside to airside to increase capacity in some constrained areas. Without going through all the work under way, many improvements have been made and the team is very much focused on and dedicated to driving a better experience for passengers this summer.

We are also very much focused on how passengers get to and from the airport. We have seen an increase in people using public transport and we are working with our partners and the national authorities to continue to increase the focus on how people access the airport. A reduced level of traffic has been seen around the airport as a result of this modal switch. Additionally, we have focused on increasing our bus connectivity. We will have more than 1,000 bus movements daily this summer and, for the first time, connectivity to all 32 counties on the island. This provides much more choice and variety to people.

Our car parks are busy. We have exhausted all options to add additional spaces. Our focus as a team, therefore, is on managing what we have and managing it well to ensure people have a positive experience as they use our car parks. We are recommending that people book early, however, because the availability of car parking will sell out at peak times. We are seeing this even with the weekend ahead, so this is key. We are also working with our taxi permit holders. Last year, we increased the number of these permits and we have continued to maintain the number we feel is required to meet the needs of passengers at the airport.

In summary, we had a very good start to the year. We have a team that is really focused on providing the best possible experience for our passengers day in and day out and 24-7. We will work with all our stakeholders and continue to evolve our plans to ensure we deal with whatever changes may occur and come at us during the summer. I thank members for their time.