Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am raising a concern brought to my attention in recent days involving Shannon Commercial Properties. It is a semi-State company that manages the Shannon free zone in County Clare. The Shannon free zone has been an extremely important element of the commercial activity of Shannon and the entire mid-west region for many years. A number of companies have been there for a long time. Back in 2006, the service charge was 3 cent per square foot. That was reasonable. It had, however, almost trebled by 2008 to 8 cent per square foot. When the recession kicked in then from 2012 to 2014, the service charge was dropped by 1 cent to 7 cent per square foot. By 2015, the charge had been doubled to 14 cent per square foot. At the moment, it stands at 21 cent per square foot.

The tenants were written to on 20 November informing them that the service charge is going up from 21 cent per square foot to 38 cent per square foot. That is almost doubled again. Since 2006 the service charge has gone up from 3 cent per square foot to a proposed 38 cent per square foot in 2019. I think that is a bit much for cutting grass, turning on lights and maintaining an estate. If this was a private company, it would be accused of commercial exploitation but this is happening through a semi-State company. I want answers. I want the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, who is responsible for managing the airport and the Shannon free zone, to come into this House and explain how a semi-State company can justify jumping the service charge from 21 cent to 38 cent per square foot. The companies affected by the service charge have survived the recession, they continue to employ people and now they are being asked to fork out 38 cent per square foot. Something is not adding up somewhere and I want answers.