Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy can elicit much of that information from the Minister for Transport. I do not wish to avoid her question but I simply do not know who he has met. I know, however, that he is very committed to this issue. I had a conversation with him recently on this and I am almost certain that he has held meetings but I would need to confirm that. A number of technical issues arose that needed to be resolved, although these were not necessarily on our side. One of the main issues is that the global environment for travel and security has changed dramatically. The entire spectrum of requirements in terms of the information flows sought by the US had to be rethought. I assure the House, however, that it is our intention to get Shannon up and running as quickly as possible. This will provide an enormous boost to the airport by making it more attractive to new airlines.

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