Mr. Tom Coughlan:

I thank the Chairman for his invitation to appear before the committee today. As the presentation has been circulated to the members of the committee, I shall keep my comments brief and identify policy positions adopted by Clare County Council on the process. First, the council supports the view that the airport would be maintained in public ownership and separated from the Dublin Airport Authority to create an independent entity. Second, the council supports the drive to attract aviation related enterprises to the airport and its land bank. Third, the council wishes to be in a position to influence and participate in decisions made on the future of the airport. In that context the council very much welcomes the fact that I have been appointed director of the Shannon Airport Authority, as Mr. Pakey mentioned.

I wish to make four points on the Bill, but I shall be brief as some of them have been mentioned. First, having regard to the fact that the Shannon Group company must be innovative, proactive and dynamic, the proposed functions at head 9 are somewhat restrictive. I suggest that consideration be given to a wider range of competence for the group.

Head 12 deals with borrowing by the group. Even though the matter has been referred to, I reiterate what the previous speakers have said. For the group to carry out its functions as envisaged, and one hopes there will be wider functions than those envisaged at present, it must be in a position to finance itself and it must be empowered to raise the necessary capital and finance to achieve its objectives. A sum of €200 million is mentioned in the Bill, so I ask the committee to consider retaining that amount.

Head 18 refers to the board of the group and I raised a technical point on subsection (5) in my presentation. It may need clarification and review in the context of the appointment of the board.

Head 22 refers to the chairman and members of the board of subsidiaries. My point, to a certain extent, is similar to the corporate governance issue raised by Deputy Dooley regarding the appointment of members of the boards and chairs of subsidiaries. The chair of the group would have the power to appoint the chairs of the subsidiaries and members of the boards of the subsidiaries.

That could be a concentration of power in the hands of the chair at the expense of the board having a role in those decisions. It is in the context of corporate governance that I would have concerns about that.

The Bill seeks to legislate for the implementation of the new group. The Bill, when taken in conjunction with the existing corporate governance codes, will meet the requirements of the Shannon Group company.

With the Chairman's consent, I will raise one other issue which is related to aviation and to Shannon, but also to the more general aviation related business. It is the issue of a commercial rates incentive scheme recommended by the Shannon Aviation Business Development Task Force report of 2012. It comes back to what Senator Mulcahy referred to, namely, the need to drive enterprise and job creation. A rates incentive scheme was introduced for urban renewal some years ago and it was very successful. There is provision in the Finance Act 2013 for tax reliefs for certain aviation services facilities, and the suggestion is that a commercial rates incentive scheme could be considered for aviation related facilities. That could help to drive the aviation business, which would be of keen interest to Shannon and to the airport.

I thank the Chairman for the invitation to appear before the committee today. I hope my contribution can assist in some way in the members' deliberations.