Dr. Chris Horn:

I am aware of the work of Limerick Chamber and in fact they were in direct contact with me during our work with the task force. We also had, as I am sure the Deputy will be aware, the CEO of Shannon Group, Mary Considine and the CEO of Ireland West Airport Knock, Joe Gilmore, as members of our committee. My understanding is that the national aviation policy has expired and there is a need for a new one. I imagine that a new policy would consider Ireland's regional development. It was not directly in our terms of reference but I want to remark again that my approach was to drive consensus and, therefore, I wanted to make sure that every recommendation in our final report was supported by all 40 members of our task force. Unless there was unanimity, we would not have a recommendation. That is what drove the way I worked. If the committee is reconvened, it would be appropriate to have this in the terms of reference.

The national aviation policy has expired. It would be appropriate to revisit the policy for the next five or ten years, and balanced regional development should be an intrinsic part of any such review.