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KERRY TD and Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport Brendan Griffin today welcomed the announcement by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross that he is allocating over three quarters of a million euro in Exchequer grants under his Department’s Regional Airports Programme to the Kerry Airport.

This represents the first allocation of support in this year regional airport programme and the grants will go towards safety and security-related projects at the airports that have been approved to date by the Minister.

Speaking today Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Brendan Griffin TD said: “I am delighted with announcement today of this grant for Kerry Airport and with this it shows a firm commitment of the Government to continuing financial support for safety and security measures at the airport. 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, and Kerry Airport continues to provide vital links in the region. With this grant Kerry airport will be able to move for with a number of safety and security features such as provision of Stop-bar and Additional Taxi-way Signage, and Taxiway Alpha.”

Minister Shane Ross has allocated a total of €1.94m in Exchequer grants under his Department’s Regional Airports Programme to the airports in Donegal, Ireland West Airport Knock and Waterford as well as Kerry.

Deputy Michael Healy-Rae also welcomed the funding of €769,000 for Kerry Airport. "This is a very welcome increase from the €310,000 that was received in 2016,” said Deputy Healy-Rae.

“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.”

The Kerry TD added: "I was assured by the Minister when he was in Kerry after visiting the airport that the PSO would not be in danger this year, but, I also raised with him the possibility of an International PSO with an airport such as Amsterdam to increase worldwide connectivity for Kerry which would obviously open the doors for more business in towns like Tralee, Listowel, Killarney and Castleisland."