Up to 1,000 jobs in the aviation sector are expected to come to Shannon as it prepares to become a totally independent airport by the end of the year.
The Government announced last May its decision to separate Shannon Airport from the Dublin Airport Authority.
Shannon Airport and Shannon Development will become a new commercial entity in public ownership.
An aviation business development taskforce, headed by Rose Hynes, a former member of the Shannon Airport board, has been working towards making Shannon independent.
It is understood that taskforce has received investment commitments from two businesses, based in the aviation and aircraft maintenance sector, which could bring 850 jobs to Shannon in three years and a further 150 in five years.
The commitments are based on Shannon being an independent commercial entity.
While passenger and airline businesses will continue to be at the core of the Shannon operation, the intention of the Government is that the region will develop into an international aviation hub, attracting a wide section of aviation business.
A total of 220 people are employed at Shannon at present. Unions say the Government's business plan is ambitious and they have concerns that those jobs will be threatened if the future investment plans do not materialise.
Inaction not an option - Varadkar
The Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar, said that there are risks associated with the newly announced plan for Shannon Airport, but that he is convinced the plan will work.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Mr Varadkar said that he understood concerns raised by unions, but added that he believed the targets were realistic.
"Let's be blunt about this. The airport is in serious decline," Mr Varadkar said.
"There are risks in the plan we are pressing forward with, but the links of doing nothing are much greater.
"The risk of doing nothing is that the airport will continue to decline and then either we'll have to close entirely or be redesignated as a regional airport and to me that would be a disaster for the region and that's why we're willing to take whatever risks are associated with this plan," Mr Varadkar said.
The minister dismissed concerns expressed by Knock Airport that the plan - in which the DAA will assume Shannon Airport's debts - amounts to illegal State aid.
Mr Varadkar said that it was not State aid, but was a reassignment of assets among State bodies.
The minister said that since 1993 Knock Airport had accepted €44m in State aid. He added that if the airport had a problem with such supports, it should stop taking them.
He said that he believed the plan was on a sound legal footing, and added that if Knock or any other airport wants to mount a legal challenge to State aid, he would be interested to see where that ends.
At a press conference, Mr Varadkar said that if Shannon Airport cannot grow passenger numbers to 2.5 million by 2021, there was no future for it.
He accused critics of Government proposals for Shannon Airport as being "defeatist".
He said he understood the concerns of union representatives and staff but said he was confident that the business plans would hold up.
Neither Minister Varadkar nor the Minister for Jobs Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, would disclose which companies would be creating 850 jobs announced today.
However, they said the two companies had signed memoranda of understanding - though they are contingent on Shannon being separated.
Mr Bruton described the business plan for the project as "robust" and "financially viable".
He said change was never without risk but sticking with the status quo as not an option. He said the new project had the potential to create up to 5,000 jobs.
Asked about Michael O'Leary's proposal that the Government should sell State airports and other transport companies to the private sector, Mr Varadkar said privatisation was not being considered by the Government.
He acknowledged that the €100m of Shannon debt that will remain with the DAA will be paid off by passengers using Dublin Airport.
Mr Varadkar refused to comment on speculation that the Budget will introduce incentives to underpin the success of the new entity.
He said the separation of Cork Airport was not being considered at present, noting that it had an even greater debt burden than Shannon.
Asked about Mr O'Leary's criticisms of the Gathering as the "Grabbing", Mr Varadkar said the Ryanair chief needed "a new song to sing".
He said Ryanair's position on money grabbing was always that someone else was ripping you off.
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