Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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243. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the value of financial requests submitted by airlines here during the ongoing pandemic; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12906/21]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The Government has put in place a range of supports for businesses, including those in the aviation sector. The supports include the wage subsidy scheme, alleviation of commercial rates, deferral of tax liabilities, the COVID Restrictions Support Scheme, the Credit Guarantee Scheme, and the SBCI Working Capital Scheme. My Department has estimated that over €100 million in operational supports has already been made available to Irish airlines under a number of these schemes.

Liquidity support is also made available through the ISIF Pandemic Stabilisation and Recovery Fund, and €150 million has been invested in debt funding in Aer Lingus. This investment is designed to complement ongoing investment by Aer Lingus’s parent company, International Airlines Group (IAG), in the airline.

It remains open to airlines to engage directly with the relevant agencies concerned with a view to drawing down supports, and the amount of any such funding sought would be a commercial matter for the airlines concerned.