Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 20:

In page 57, between lines 17 and 18, to insert the following:

“PART 9

AMENDMENT OF AIR NAVIGATION AND TRANSPORT (AMENDMENT) ACT 1998

Amendment of section 13 of Act of 1998 81.Section 13 of the Act of 1998 is amended by—

(a) the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (5):

“(5) The aggregate at any one time of moneys borrowed under this section shall not exceed—

(a) in the case of daa and any of its subsidiaries, from the Dublin appointed day, €5 billion, and

(b) in the case of Cork Airport Authority and any of its subsidiaries, from the Cork appointed day, €100 million.”,

and

(b) by the deletion of subsection (6).”.

This amendment sets the DAA's statutory borrowing ceiling at €5 billion. The DAA's current statutory borrowing limit is just €2.2 billion. The DAA funds its investment programme from its own resources and many of these programmes are financed by borrowing. The DAA is subject to a statutory borrowing limit under the provisions of section 13 of the Air Navigation and Transport (Amendment) Act 1998. The DAA's development plans are conditional on it surviving the impacts of Covid-19 and positioning itself to recover both financially and strategically. The delivery of a statutory mandate to operate, manage and develop both Dublin Airport and Cork Airport depends on the company having access to the necessary liquidity. To date, the DAA's statutory borrowing limit has been amended by way of statutory instrument. However, my Department has been advised by the Office of the Attorney General that legislation should be enacted to provide for a greater increase and to confirm the existing power over these limits. Given that this ceiling is set in primary legislation, a limit of €5 billion is considered appropriate as it needs to accommodate a relatively long timeframe. Any further amendments to increase the limit will require primary legislation. Importantly, and irrespective of the level of the statutory borrowing limit, the DAA is still required under legislation to obtain my consent and the consent of the Ministers for Public Expenditure and Reform and for Finance prior to entering into any new borrowing, even if such new borrowings are within the statutory borrowing limit. Amendment No. 27 simply reflects these changes in the long title.