Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Question 166: To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will acknowledge that Galway Airport generates more revenue for the State via taxes and charges than it receives by way of subsidies, that it is in fact cost neutral; his plans for regional airports such as Galway Airport in view of their importance for business links particularly multinationals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12279/11]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I fully recognise the value of Galway Airport in terms of the numbers employed directly and indirectly at the Airport and the role that it has played in the economic development of the region. However, I do not accept that it generates more revenue for the State than it receives. Passengers using an alternative airport will spend much the same amount of money on air fares and other expenditure and the tax paid on this will still accrue to the exchequer albeit from another country. The future for Ireland does not lie in borrowing money from the IMF/EU to subsidise jobs that cannot sustain themselves. It lies in substantial, unsubsidised and viable businesses and jobs they support. I do accept, however that spending cuts do take money out of the economy and that can impact negatively on employment. None the less we cannot spend money we do not have.

However, in the current financial crisis, I am faced with dealing with the lack of funding available for the regional airports programme for 2011 and future years following reductions in funding levels made by the previous Government. At the same time, some of the regional airports are becoming more dependant on Exchequer support of some sort.

There is a total allocation of €13.4 million available for the programme for 2011, €11.4 million for current expenditure on the PSO air services, most of which is already committed, and operational losses of the airports and €2 million for capital projects at the airports, which is all committed. This compares to expenditure of €21.2 million on the programme in 2010.

A value for money review published by the previous Government in January 2011 recommended that funding for PSO air services between Dublin and the regional airports be discontinued when current contracts end in July 2011, except for the Donegal – Dublin service. It also recommended that operational and capital expenditure funding be discontinued for Sligo and Galway airports. These recommendations took into account changes in EU legislation, airport performances, the substantial investment in surface transport, overlapping catchment areas, the requirement to made best use of scarce Exchequer resources and the implications for the tourism and business sectors in the regions.

In addressing the lack of funding issue, I have to take into consideration developments in recent years as highlighted in the review and the need to focus on ensuring the sustainability of a strong network of regional airports serving the Irish public, both in terms of business and tourism. While no decisions on the funding of regionals airports for 2011 and future years have yet been made by the current Government, I will be bringing proposals to Cabinet in the coming weeks.

It would be inappropriate at this stage to comment on the possible outcome of the Government's deliberations. However, it is clear that in the current difficult climate, any decisions will have to take account of available Exchequer funds.