Arthur Spring (Kerry North-West Limerick, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I must point out why this is an unsatisfactory response. I am glad the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation is also in the Chamber because I have discussed this with him on a number of occasions. The Minister stated the establishment of the Shannon Group was on the basis that it was to support a new future for Shannon and the mid-west region, as envisaged by the Shannon aviation business development task force which reported in November 2012. I repeat this was for Shannon and the mid-west region. I come from Tralee in the south west. It is a two hour drive from Kerry Technology Park to Shannon Airport. The focus is on Shannon Airport. Kerry Technology Park is not a hangar, cargo house or shop in an airport; it is a technology park with many micro-businesses. It was an entrepreneurial region of excellence, as defined by the European Committee of the Regions, in 2010.

I find it farcical that more than a year and a half after I, along with other Members of the House, voted in favour of the legislation talks are no longer in place and we have bequeathed, or gifted, to Shannon Group an asset with a rental income. It is now in a state of decline but it has no mortgage. We gifted a cash cow to an organisation in competition with the area I represent. I find this quite embarrassing on a political level. The tenants are frustrated as they did not buy into this on day one. There will be no increase of tenants there. There is no existing relationship between Shannon Group, the enterprise boards and IDA Ireland. Why are we looking at a model which has not worked anywhere else? Its focus is on aviation, the mid-west and the Shannon area. We have gifted it a cash cow. This is a Kerry man joke. We are giving it a couple of hundred thousand euro a year so it can clobber our airport in Kerry, which is its stated ambition in its plan. I am quite fed up of it to be honest.

I have been to the former Minister, Deputy Quinn, the Ministers, Deputies Bruton, Varadkar and Donohoe, the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach with this issue. It is not rocket science, but it is the only hope we have of creating jobs. If people tell me they will not expand the number of jobs they have in Kerry Technology Park based on the fact the landlord they have is not the type of landlord they bought into on day one, we have a problem. I urge the Minister to go about fixing it. The Minister told me he does not have a statutory role in the organisation, but I have just read back to him what is the role of the organisation. It is the mid-west and Shannon and not Tralee or Kerry. There is a problem. If the Minister wants to amend the legislation, I will be happy to work with him on it but this must be addressed. If he discusses it afterwards with the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, they will see the essence of the problem. We must fix this.

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