Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Shannon Group was set up with three components. It has been successful in running two of those, notwithstanding much adversity. It has been less successful with the heritage sites and the group's management seems to be of the view that it is not a good fit with the Shannon Group, which has a commercial remit. Clare County Council has offered to take over these sites.

They have identified capital needs and they have set out a detailed paper on what those needs are. I have written to four Ministers and to the Taoiseach to ask for a high-level person to be appointed to bring them together. There are four Ministers involved, and it is bouncing around between them. There are State agencies, such as Fáilte Ireland, and of course Clare County Council,involved. It now looks like the deal is in jeopardy and there is a lot of toing and froing in the media between the Shannon Airport Group and Clare County Council. Does the Tánaiste, as incoming Taoiseach, think that we now need to appoint somebody high level to bring these groups together to get this over the line to bring finality?

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