Vol. 513 No. 1
196 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the number of regional airports; the funding, if any, given to each airport in each of the past three years; and if he will give details for international airports. [1063/00]
Apart from the three State airports operated by Aer Rianta at Dublin, Shannon and Cork, there are six regional airports located at Donegal, Knock, Galway, Sligo, Kerry and Waterford.
The Government made Exchequer funding of £5 million available for improvements at the regional airports in Donegal, Galway, Knock, Sligo and Waterford in 1998-99, details of which are given in the following table. Due to delays in land acquisition, Galway airport was unable to complete all of its planned developments and a sum of £2 million of this funding has been rolled over into 2000.
The Government supports all six of the regional airports through grant schemes to assist in the marketing and promotion of the airports. A total sum in the region of £2.5 million was made available over the period 1996-99 for the scheme. The following table details the funding provided under this scheme to each of the regional airports in the past three years.
In addition, the Government also supports the operation of four essential air services routes under an EU regulation, which allows for the imposition of a public service obligation on regional air routes, to improve accessibility and encourage the growth of both industry and tourism related activities. Details of the subvention which has been paid over the last three years to the airlines involved are given in the following table.
No Exchequer funding is provided for the three State airports. Aer Rianta funds investment at Dublin, Cork and Shannon Airports from its own resources.
|
Airport |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
|
Donegal |
– |
189,750 |
266,250 |
|
Kerry |
– |
– |
– |
|
Knock |
– |
912,881 |
11,119 |
|
Galway |
– |
242,369 |
857,631 |
|
Sligo |
– |
145,000 |
– |
|
Waterford |
– |
366,000 |
9,000 |
|
Airport |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
|
Donegal |
75,000 |
75,000 |
75,000 |
|
Kerry |
300,000 |
300,000 |
300,000 |
|
Knock |
62,500 |
62,500 |
62,500 |
|
Galway |
40,000 |
40,000 |
40,000 |
|
Sligo |
70,000 |
70,000 |
70,000 |
|
Waterford |
40,000 |
40,000 |
152,500 |
|
Route |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
|
Kerry/Dublin |
753,000 |
753,000 |
753,000 |
|
Galway/Dublin |
1,074,000 |
1,074,000 |
1,074,000 |
|
Sligo/Dublin |
688,000 |
688,000 |
688,000 |
|
Donegal/Dublin |
360,544 |
717,592 |
796,000 |
