Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

All three airports showed record traffic last year with passenger numbers of 18.46 million at Dublin, 3.3 million at Shannon and 2.73 million at Cork. This represents growth of 8% at Dublin, of 38% at Shannon and close to 21% at Cork. The new boards for Shannon and Cork, in conjunction with the DAA, are bringing a new impetus to developing and growing their airports.

The State Airports Act 2004 provides for the establishment of the three State airports at Dublin, Shannon and Cork as fully independent and autonomous authorities under State ownership. The Act provides a framework to allow for an orderly approach to the distribution of the assets of Shannon and Cork Airports in conformity with the capital maintenance and other provisions of the companies Acts. New boards were appointed at all three airports in 2004. The boards of Cork and Shannon airports are now charged with making preparations to assume responsibility for the ownership and development of the airports. They are also empowered to undertake certain management and operational functions on an agreed basis with Dublin Airport Authority during the interim period.

Under the Act, before any assets can transfer to either the Shannon or Cork Airport authorities, the Minister for Finance and I must be satisfied as to the financial and operational readiness of the airport authorities. Accordingly, each authority is required to prepare a comprehensive business plan and obtain our approval for these plans before any assets can be transferred.

The three State airport authorities are continuing to work on the preparation of their business plans with the Dublin Airport Authority, DAA, co-ordinating the process. In this context a range of issues needs to be carefully considered. These include the unsustainable cost base at Shannon Airport, the recent airport 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 that the airport authorities must consider carefully and as I have indicated previously, I have not imposed any artificial deadlines for the completion of this process. My Department will continue to liaise with the DAA on the business planning timetable taking account of the key issues I have mentioned.

At the appropriate time I look forward to the finalisation of the business planning process because of its importance to facilitating the development of dynamic, independent and financially sustainable State airports. The Government objective of airport restructuring must be achieved in a manner which underpins the financial sustainability of all three State airports.

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