Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

We must bring this issue back to basics, as many people have done during this debate. Last Monday morning, I attended a meeting in Cork Airport. Sometimes the regional airports get forgotten in this debate. It was a worthwhile meeting with the south west regional authority. It boiled down to the fact that Aer Rianta did not ask to be broken up. It did not make that request, nor is that what it wanted. It was a political, ideological decision forced upon the company. As part of that decision the then Minister, Deputy Brennan, stated Cork Airport would be left debt-free to allow it the capacity and ability to develop. Development at Cork Airport is badly needed.

We now have a terminal about to be opened and the debt issue is unclear. The current Minister appears to be claiming that making it debt-free could not possibly be done under the Companies Act. This House legislates and we can do it under the Companies Act. That Act may need to be changed, but the Government has changed enough Acts to allow us to do it again.

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