Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

In case there is any misunderstanding, what the board fully supports is both the transfer of the town to Clare County Council and the transfer of the staff working in Shannon Development on an agency basis to Enterprise Ireland. I will send the Deputy a letter to that effect. The board does not support the asset issue in relation to the zone. As I said earlier, the Department of Transport is the owner of the property and the zone and leases them to Shannon Development. What is important is that we use the assets in the region to make the region dynamic and vibrant.

Every fair-minded person who has looked at the Shannon region from a business perspective believes the airport must be supported as an independent autonomous airport so that it is in a position to be able to do deals with airlines and others. If the Shannon Development asset base can make a contribution to that, we should be open-minded about it. In case I misled the Deputy, I do not want any misunderstanding that the chairman is in favour of that, because he is not.

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