Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)

The Taoiseach knows that Shannon Airport is a huge political issue in the mid-west, not just in County Clare. I am chair of the Oireachtas Shannon Airport group, which has 22 members from Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann from the rank of Minister, Opposition Member and Senator across all parties. We meet quite regularly to focus on policies that will strengthen the airport because we recognise that when the Ryder Cup comes in 2027 and when Doonbeg hosts the Irish Open next year, we will need top quality infrastructure.

Dublin Airport Authority last year alone paid a €99 million dividend to the State. It would be worth looking at, not only for Shannon Airport, but for Cork Airport in the Taoiseach's county and Knock airport in Mayo, ring-fencing that dividend to be disbursed across Ireland's other airports. I would love to hear when we will get certainty on the regional airports forum because airports need to procure, plan and build for the future.

It cannot just be about Dublin's future story; we need to look at Ireland's other airports. I do not know how spurious or accurate this is, but Ryanair had plans to have a large jet-engine maintenance facility in Shannon. Michael O'Leary is putting the blame on the Government. I would like to know if there are any plans to reactivate that, because we could certainly do with that kind of activity in the mid-west.

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