Ms Mary Considine:

I thank the Chairman. Craggaunowen works from a very low visitor base. Approximately 15,000 visitors visited the site last year. The Deputy is correct to note that because of its location its market is predominantly domestic. It is open from June to mid-September and is very heavily reliant on school tours during the June period. Obviously, we were not open in June of this year. Craggaunowen would lose money in any event, but because of our portfolio of sites we were able to support that business prior to the pandemic. We are now losing money right across the business because of the collapse in our revenues. Consequently, we made the decision to open our key sites in order to ensure that Bunratty Castle, a site in Clare on 26 acres of land, would be available to the domestic market while the schools were on holiday. We made the same decision with respect to King John's Castle in Limerick. Unfortunately, we were not in a position to open all our sites this year. This business is in a financial crisis and there has been a complete collapse in revenue. Shannon Heritage's revenue is down by 86% this year. It is very difficult to keep trading. Our decisions have been made with the long-term interests of the business to the fore. We made the temporary decision to close key sites during the summer to reduce losses.