Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)

I had a good meeting with the Shannon Airport Group. It was one of the first meetings I had when I took over as Minister. The group has raised the issue of regional airports and how it might be able to access funding. There is a passenger cap to access that funding at the moment but we are considering that. Shannon Airport can stand on its own two feet. It is doing very well. We need to encourage airlines to use the other airports. We have been clear, however, that the Government cannot direct an airline to fly out of any airport. The airports need to be competitive and hungry for business, as I know Shannon and Cork airports are. The passenger growth at Cork Airport has been significant.

I might come back to the Deputy on the passenger cap during my supplementary response. We have committed to working with stakeholders to remove the passenger cap at Dublin Airport. That commitment was included in the programme for Government. However, that will not happen instead of anything else. We need to consider how to grow all our airports. There is capacity in Shannon and Cork airports that should be used.

I have met with DAA officials, who operate Cork and Dublin airport and I have also met with Shannon representatives.

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