Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

If the company is wound up, the first call goes to workers who are owed pay or redundancy, then the Revenue Commissioners and then other secured creditors.

The State has no claim on the money paid. It was paid to Galway Airport under the OPEX scheme to cover its operating losses, which were significant for the year. That is why the money was paid. Unfortunately, on top of that the airport had multimillion euro debts and the money appears not to be sufficient to cover those debts.