Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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1700. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views on the proposal to set up a regional marketing fund on a public-private basis to promote increased business and tourist traffic to the south of Ireland through Cork Airport; the funding he plans to contribute to this project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33816/14]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) is the body with statutory responsibility to manage, operate and develop Dublin and Cork airports. In relation to Cork airport, I am aware that the DAA's focus is currently on stabilising traffic, winning back routes and developing new routes and services and initiatives to support sustainable growth. A high level stakeholder body – the Cork Airport Development Council – has also been established to provide a forum for stakeholders from a range of sectoral and geographic backgrounds who have an interest in the development of the airport to engage with airport management and to help contribute to traffic and route growth.   Cork Airport, in common with the other State Airports, is subject to EU regulations on State Aid and does not receive State funding.

From a tourism perspective, all of my Department's allocation for tourism is provided for the use of the tourism agencies, Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland, and I do not have discretionary funding available for individual marketing initiatives.Tourism Ireland, the agency with responsibility for the overseas marketing of Ireland as a tourist destination already undertakes significant cooperative marketing activity with carriers serving Cork Airport to promote flights to Cork and boost travel to the wider region. Recent activity in this regard includes cooperative marketing campaigns with Aer Lingus in Germany France, Spain, The Netherlands and Great Britain, and a cooperative campaign with Ryanair in Great Britain. The agency will continue to monitor developments at Cork airport and work with the airport and relevant stakeholders to maximise the numbers using existing services and to help to make the case for additional new services with potential tourism benefits for the Cork region.