Michael Murphy (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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182. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he has considered allocating a percentage of the annual dividend paid by the DAA to the Exchequer directly to supporting infrastructure improvements at regional airports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53708/25]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Government’s position is that all commercial State companies with distributable profits return a financial dividend to the State. The general guideline figure is a dividend of at least 30% of after-tax profits, as set out in DPENDR Circular 07/2025.

Depending on the financial circumstances of the particular company, in this case daa, the figure adopted may be more or less than this guideline 30% figure. Currently, there is no mechanism for the specific allocation of daa dividends to investments outside of the daa's remit, as all dividends are returned to the Central Fund in order to fund the Exchequer. There are no legislative proposals to change this approach.

Decisions on Exchequer capital funding allocations, including allocations to regional airports, are taken as part of regular reviews of the National Development Plan (NDP), which most recently occurred earlier this year. Following the agreement of the revised NDP in July 2025, Gross capital expenditure ceilings for all sectors, including Transport, have now been set. The Department of Transport is now tasked with developing sectoral plans for the upcoming 5 years to 2030, which will detail priority projects to be progressed. Departments must ensure that the plans are affordable within the gross capital expenditure ceilings as agreed by Government on publishing the NDP review.