Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I want to thank his colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, for coming on site to the airport two weeks ago and seeing first-hand all the preparatory work that is under way to ready ourselves for the season ahead.

It was August of last year when Rose Hynes stepped down as chairperson of the board. We then saw an appointment process getting under way and that ran until February when Aaron Forde was appointed. His tenure lasted a matter of hours; that was a botched exercise really. We then asked that this process be slowed down ever so slightly to get the right person. We do not want someone with an agribusiness or economist background. We need someone in Shannon who understands aviation to be the helmsman or helmswoman of an airport that for decades has been the economic catalyst in the midwest. I am keen to know what kind of timeframe the Minister is talking about here because we have had delays. We asked the Minister to slow it down ever so slightly. We were talking about weeks at the time, and certainly not the 13 months at which we now find ourselves since the departure of Rose Hynes. I would love to know whether it will happen this month because we are really looking for some direction where Shannon Airport is concerned.

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