€1.94m in funding announced for regional airports
A total of €1.94m in funding for Ireland's regional airports has been announced today.
Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Shane Ross allocated in Exchequer grants under his Department’s Regional Airports Programme to the facilities in Donegal, Ireland West Airport Knock, Waterford and Kerry.
The grants will go towards safety and security related projects at the airports that have been approved to date by the Minister.
Minister Ross said: “The National Aviation Policy 2015 acknowledges the role played by the regional airports in promoting a level of international connectivity to support the tourism and business sectors in their regions.
The grant allocations announced today demonstrate the Government’s continuing financial support for safety and security measures at these airports. Further assistance in 2017 under our Programme for these airports, both capital and operational supports, will be announced at a later date.”
The allocations announced today to each of the airports are as follows:
- Knock: €1,109,430
- Kerry: € 769,537
- Waterford: € 39,330
- Donegal: €22,500
Deputy Michael Healy-Rae welcomed the funding, saying : "This is a very welcome increase from the €310,000 that was received in 2016.
“I was very glad that when Minister Ross was in Kerry recently that he visited Kerry Airport, the airport is of paramount importance to the county and it is vital that these much needed funds are allocated to ensure that our airport can continue improving, raising standards in safety and all other aspects of the airport".
