Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

In keeping with the provisions of the State Airports Act 2004, the board of the Dublin Airport Authority, DAA, has a statutory mandate to do everything necessary to give effect to the restructuring of the State airports.

The Shannon and Cork Airport Authorities were incorporated in September last year and in line with the framework provided by the 2004 Act, these two authorities will, in due course and subject to operational and financial readiness, own and operate their respective airports, once sufficient distributable reserves are available to transfer the relevant assets.

Both the Minister for Finance and I must be satisfied as to the sate of operational and financial readiness of the Shannon and Cork Airport Authorities before the assets of the airports are vested in those bodies. The formulation of comprehensive business plans by the boards will be a key aspect in evaluating operational and financial readiness. The three airport authorities are continuing to work on preparing their business plans, with the DAA co-ordinating the process. In this context, a range of issues needs to be considered, including the unsustainable cost base at Shannon Airport, the recently announced charges determination for Dublin Airport by the Commission for Aviation Regulation and the optimum mechanisms for the financing of the new terminal in Cork.

These are complex issues which the airport authorities must consider carefully and I have not imposed any artificial deadlines on the business planning process. Since the establishment of the new authorities last year, all three airports anticipate record traffic this year, with passenger numbers likely to exceed 18 million and 2.6 million at Dublin and Cork, respectively, while Shannon is expected to reach the 3 million figure for the first time. Even in advance of full autonomy, it is clear that the new boards for Shannon and Cork, in conjunction with the DAA, are bringing a new impetus to developing and growing their airports, with growth this year expected to be over 30% at Shannon and close to 20% at Cork. Both these airports have the potential to build further on this success in the light of what is best for their particular business and their regions.

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