Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

If the Minister wants to discuss discrediting people in terms of financial implications we can have that debate another day.

To allow Cork Airport, which has the highest charges of any airport in the country, to carry this burden would cripple it. It will not be a level playing pitch, as the Minister promised it would. The Government should live up to its promise, but why should I be surprised if this promise is broken? God knows it has broken every other promise it has made. It should ensure that the southern region, which is vital to the country's economy, has the ability to expand. This issue is not only about a terminal. It is about apron space and runway capacity, which must be provided as well, but it will now have a burden of debt whereby further expansion will be impossible. Passenger charges will increase and therefore passenger numbers will reduce, when every other airport is expanding. That is outrageous.

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