Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

I welcome this motion and the commitment to position the Shannon Airport Authority on a financially sustainable basis. Not far up the road at — note the name — Ireland West Airport, Knock, the airport authority off its own bat — without any hand-holding or major support, managed to develop the airport into one that caters for 600,000 passengers. This time last year, Ryanair, the champion of regional development, pulled the Knock-Gatwick service. The airport authority worked to secure a replacement. This morning the board announced the recommencement of Knock-Gatwick services three times a day, starting from December. That shows the value of an authority that makes decisions and that is responsible to the shareholders and people from the area. The sooner we position the Shannon authority on that basis, the better. It can then be accountable, with particular reference to Deputy Cregan's remarks on the activities of the authority before Aer Lingus pulled out.

I am interested in Deputy Higgins's comments on slots. Slots should not belong to a private company, they are a national asset. If difficulties exist we should examine these in the context of European competition. If half of the supports available to the Shannon region were available to my county it would be much better off. This Government has shown great commitment to the Shannon and mid-west region. This is not an inter-region debate but I remember when we campaigned to have the airport built at Knock. Signs in Clare read: "If you support an airport in Mayo, don't knock". We need pride in our airport and the work done without any hand-holding.

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