Ms Rose Hynes:

That was the estimate for within a five-year period. It will take five years to achieve it. It will not occur overnight because it depends on infrastructure. One of the first things we need to do is to develop an integration plan, because a land bank is being added to the airport, giving us more than 1,000 hectares. Such an integration plan is necessary and possibly we will push out air side.

One looks at all of that and then one determines what one can build. Someone asked about private investment and we will be attempting to attract private investment, on a joint venture basis, for new businesses at Shannon. That is the game plan for the next five years.

On the question of the forum, I am all for collaboration. Unless we collaborate, we will not get this done. This is not about any one airport or any one place. To me it is about Ireland Inc. and about the entire west coast, in particular. We must all work together to achieve this. I am certainly open to collaborating with others, including competitors at other airports. We need to grow the pie here. We must look at the big picture. I am in favour of collaboration, whether it is called a forum or something else. I certainly intend to collaborate because this will not be done otherwise. No solo run will get this done. We must collaborate.

The composition of the board is a matter for the Minister and as I said, that process is under way. The Minister will decide who is appointed to the board. I agree that we must get buy-in from the IDA and Enterprise Ireland and, indeed, they were involved in the task force. I have had meetings with the CEOs of both organisations in the last month and we intend to continue those discussions and to work with them closely because they are the people who will be charged with delivery of the jobs. We have to work together because it is not going to happen any other way.

Customs and Border Protection, CBP, is a hugely important facility for Shannon and, as was said already, Shannon is the only place outside of the Americas where it exists. I agree that it is under utilised and a big part of our marketing campaign will focus on increasing its usage in the business travel sector. The corporate jet market is wide open. The small island of Malta set up a task force in 2008 which looked at the worldwide aviation market and determined that Malta should target the corporate jet market and it has done quite well in that regard. Malta is an island that only measures 25 km by 17 km and is about the size of one of our counties. We cannot let those guys eat our lunch. We have to go after that market. The Maltese also looked at what Ireland was doing in aviation in general terms and copied some of it. This is not about one Irish airport versus another but about the international competition. We will certainly be going after the corporate jet market and indeed, that is one of the recommendations of the task force report. The report also recommends examining the possibility of establishing a separate registry for corporate jets and we are currently in discussions with the Irish Aviation Authority on that. We have set up a working group on the issue. The more we can do to attract people and the more we can do to market Ireland to the corporate jet market the better. I have no doubt we can increase our share of that pie.

Transatlantic traffic is hugely important, especially in the context of The Gathering this year. We intend to push that market more. As I have said, we have already got increased capacity for the summer of this year but that is not enough. We are going to push this and get more capacity. That, again, increases the pie for Ireland Inc.

Creating a hub for transit passengers is another recommendation of the task force report. Heathrow is very important in this regard but we must develop another hub outside of Heathrow and we are working on that at the moment.

I agree that the rising tide can lift all boats. A question was posed about the distinguishing features of Shannon. It has the longest runway in Ireland, is one of two transatlantic airports on the western seaboard and has connectivity to Heathrow. It has many firsts and has a history of innovation. That spirit of innovation is alive in Shannon but it has under-utilised infrastructure. It will have a land bank of over 1,100 hectares which is really important. There is already a cluster of aviation activity in Shannon and that cluster is greater than what places like Singapore, Dubai or Hamburg had when they started. We have 40 aviation-related entities employing 1,600 people, including Shannon Aerospace and GECAS, which is one of the largest aviation companies in the world. We must look after what we already have. Shannon has a huge history of innovation. Aer Rianta International was born in Shannon. The airport has a good future but the challenge is enormous. We must all work together on this.

I hope I have addressed all of the questions and points raised.