The Irish government is to spend almost €17 million on the country's regional airports, with the bulk of the cash going to Cork, Knock and Shannon.
The allocations were announced by Jack Chambers, a junior minister in the transport department, during a visit to Shannon Airport, which is located about a 30-minute drive from the city of Limerick.
"Shannon Airport is the state’s third busiest airport, welcoming over 1.5 million passengers last year, which represents an 88% recovery on 2019 passenger traffic," said Chambers.
Shannon is to get €4.6 million, the department announced, with Knock, also known as Ireland West Airport, awarded €5 million and Cork €6 million.
Smaller airports in Donegal in the north-west and Kerry in the south-west can expect to receive around €1 million between them, with the cash injections meant to "contribute towards capital investment in the areas of safety and security", according to the transport department.
"We warmly welcome today’s announcement by minister Chambers of capital funding of over €4.6 million under the Regional Airports Programme. This demonstrates the government's commitment to supporting the region’s connectivity and the broader economic benefits this brings to the region," said Shannon Airport chief executive Mary Considine.
"This funding will support the latest phase of our airport transformation programme aimed at both future-proofing the airport and ensuring our facilities meet the needs of our customers as we prepare for a record summer flight schedule," said Knock Airport chairman Arthur French, who added that the money would be used to install new security technology to do away with the 100 ml limit on liquids and the need for passengers to remove electronics from bags for separate screening.