Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 333: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his plans for the future of Shannon Development. [3490/05]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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There have been a number of developments that will impact on the mid-west region and the roles of the respective State agencies operating there, the most significant of which are: the proposed relocation of the headquarters of Enterprise Ireland, involving 300 of the agency's Dublin based staff to Shannon, as part of the Government decentralisation programme; the establishment of an independent Shannon Airport Authority; and the enterprise strategy group recommendation that Shannon Development should disengage from industrial development functions which should be left to the national agencies, that is, Enterprise Ireland and the IDA.

Other developments such as the removal of the need for operating licences for companies setting up in the Shannon free zone, the transfer of responsibility for Shannon town from Shannon Development to Clare County Council and the transfer of the tourism development function for north Kerry from Shannon Development to Cork Kerry Tourism impact on the future role of Shannon Development, in particular.

Shannon Development fully supports the decision to establish an independent airport authority which it sees as vital to the economic development of the region. It has also further agreed that the company should refocus its activities on the airport with a view to generating business for the airport and that the company's assets should be used to support the airport authority particularly in its early, vulnerable years. The issue of the organisational structure best fitted to achieve these objectives is still under review and no decision has been taken.