On 5th September the Shannon Group plc was established by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Paschal Donohoe TD. Rose Hynes, Chairman, said: “The new company will be a key conduit for growth across the West of Ireland and beyond. The four strategic business units that make up the Shannon Group will co-exist within the Group, elevating the business into a single entity of significant regional and national importance.”
The Shannon Group plc brings together:
- Shannon Airport, the only airport on the Atlantic seaboard serving all three key markets – the USA, UK and Europe – and which has already achieved significant growth following its establishment as an independent company in January 2013
- Shannon Commercial Enterprises Ltd, trading as Shannon Commercial Properties, which includes the Shannon Free Zone and a significant property portfolio across the Shannon region
- Shannon Heritage, one of Ireland’s largest visitor experience operators, with six castles and various other day and evening visitor attractions
- International Aviation Services Centre, which builds on the activities of over 40 existing aviation companies already located in the region.
Rose Hynes added: “The Shannon Group plc is a dynamic commercial semi-state company with a very significant role in stimulating growth across the wider region. The Group has a wide footprint, with Shannon Airport serving a region that stretches from Cork right up to the North West, and in that regard has both regional and national significance.
“The Government has delivered this new entity and we now embark with great enthusiasm on a journey that will present many opportunities. The work now begins to maximise those opportunities for the greater good of the region.”
The Shannon Group will deliver an early illustration of its potential importance to the region when it hosts a high-level gathering of US multi-national executives to welcome Boston Mayor Marty Walsh on his inaugural trip to Ireland since he became the first Irish-American in 20 years to be elected as Mayor of Boston last November. The Shannon Airport event, which will be attended by over 100 business and public representatives, is a further strengthening of relationships between the Mayor and the region following his February meeting with the Shannon Group Chairman in the USA – his first meeting with an international delegation since he was sworn into office the previous month.
Neil Pakey, Chief Executive, Shannon Group, said: “We start out as a Group on a positive footing thanks to the growth achieved at Shannon Airport since it was made independent. Last year we halted five years of successive decline and this year expects to achieve double-digit growth.
“While there will inevitably be challenges ahead, we already have an impetus and confidence arising from the gains at Shannon Airport, which we believe will be the pivot for the entire group. We have four units operating as individual entities that will work cohesively for the common good of the wider region.”
