Alan Dillon will focus on continued development of Knock airport if elected to the Dáil after the General Election.
In a statement today he is said “ I was a child when Knock was opened. Having used the airport on many occasions I can see the full potential of what the late Monsignor James Horan had in mind for the West of Ireland.

All Governments have given support to Knock over the years, but it’s potential is far from being achieved. I intend to make this a priority of mine as a Dáil Deputy if elected.”

One of the last decisions taken by the Kenny Government was to approve a Strategic Development Zone around Knock airport in May 2017. This facility is rarely granted and then only outside major urban areas. It’s provision at Knock is a major signal of support for rural Ireland.

Mayo County Council have since given authorisation for a master plan for the zone. This would see 95,000 square metres of commercial, business and enterprise space being developed at the airport. Applications for planning can be fast-tracked giving certainty to investors and potential developers.

There is also provision for aviation development, and hotel and conference facilities adjacent to the airport itself.

Alan Dillon said today “we have this facility now, but we need to see that it happens. There is no reason why we should not be able to train pilots in the skies above Knock instead of having them pay huge fees to do so abroad and in other places.

There is no reason why we should not have aircraft servicing capacity, and aircraft dismantling capacity at Knock to provide specialist jobs. There is no reason why we should not have collaboration with our Universities and Colleges of Technology, together with business to further new innovation and research into materials and reduction of aircraft emission levels.

Nor is there any reason why we should not target a passenger throughput of two million passengers inside the next decade.

Knock could become a major service point for major offshore wind farms in the Atlantic dealing with our energy requirements  having some of the best mean wind speeds in the world.

I see at least 5000 extra jobs over 10/15 years if the Strategic Development Zone is built out.

This will be a major focus of my tenure of service if elected to the Dáil”.