Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 61, 63 and 81 together.

As I have said already in the House in response to a Priority PQ number 53, the Government decision to support the continuation of a Public Service Obligation route between Donegal and Dublin and between Kerry and Dublin and to cease requiring Public Service Obligation routes between Dublin and Sligo, Knock, Galway and Derry from July 2011 was taken following full consideration of the conclusions and recommendations of the Value for Money (VFM) Review of Exchequer Expenditure on Regional Airports. The VFM Review is part of the Government's Value for Money and Policy Review initiative introduced to secure improved value for money from public expenditure. The Review evaluates past Exchequer expenditure against the Regional Airport Programme objectives and examines the scope for achieving those objectives more efficiently and effectively in the future.

The Review was published on Wednesday, 12 January 2011 and is available for download on my Department's website. The Review involved extensive consultations with a wide range of stakeholders including the regional airports, the BMW Regional Assembly, IDA, IAA, Fáilte Ireland, Tourism Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, Aer Arann and Ryanair. Under updated EU legislation governing the PSO air services, more stringent conditions will apply in the future, having regard for example to the availability of other transport connections and especially rail services with a travelling time of three hours or less. I believe this is a reasonable benchmark when considering levels of connectivity in Ireland.

The change in EU legislation, the substantial investment in surface transport, the completion of the Review and the requirement to make best use of scarce Exchequer resources, were all taken into consideration by Government in making this decision. Overall, I believe that the combination of an improved surface transport network together with a more consolidated air service network to regional airports, along with the State Airports at Cork, Shannon and Dublin, provides the necessary connectivity to underpin Ireland's sustainable development. As all the regional airports are privately owned, the question of their commercial viability is a matter for each of them to consider. My focus is on making the best use of scarce Exchequer funds for the good of the Irish public.

In addition to the PSO scheme, there are two other schemes which provide Exchequer support to the Regional Airports - an Opex scheme which provides money to airports to cover all or part of their operational losses in any given year and a Capex scheme which provides finance towards the cost of necessary infrastructure at our regional airports. I am giving further consideration to these schemes and will revert to Government shortly with proposals.