Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross TD, announced today that his Department is allocating €2.77 million in funding support for the four regional airports in Donegal, Ireland West Airport Knock, Kerry and Waterford.

Minister Ross said: “These grant allocations are being made under the Regional Airports Programme 2015-2019, which supports these airports with both capital and operational grants for projects and activities in the areas of safety and security.”

The grants announced today provide assistance towards the operational costs incurred by the four regional airports and are in addition to capital grant funding of €2.7 million that has been paid in 2016 towards safety and security investments at the airports.

“The grants announced today bring the total direct funding by my Department to the regional airports this year to €5.5 million. That amount increases to €13.1 million when the funding provided indirectly for the provision of Public Service Obligation (PSO) air services on the Donegal/Dublin and Kerry/Dublin routes is included. 

This support is very important for these smaller airports and for the role that they play in promoting a level of international connectivity to support the tourism and business sectors in their regions,” Minister Ross concluded.

The grant allocations announced today are as follows: