Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I feel like a broken record raising this matter. The Cork Airport issue is an embarrassment. It is holding up the separation of Cork Airport, in terms of ownership and management, from the Dublin Airport Authority. We have a brand new terminal that has been operating for more than a year but we still have no idea how it will be paid for. A debt of €220 million is attached to the development and no one knows who will pay for it. That is a farcical situation and it has serious implications for the Dublin Airport Authority and its counterpart in Cork.

The Cork Airport Authority was asked by the Government to draw up detailed business plans regarding how it intends to carry the airport forward. However, the authority does not know the level of debt it will be obliged to shoulder as part of that proposal.

This is a political decision. I remind the Minister of State of the history of the Cork Airport debt. The decision, with which I agreed at the time, to split Aer Rianta and separate Cork, Shannon and Dublin airports from each other in an effort to promote competition and a degree of independent thinking and decision-making among them so that all three could prosper, was controversial for Cork because the Government had made a commitment, through Aer Rianta, to build a new terminal there. The authorities at Cork only agreed to the proposal on the understanding that the airport, when it became independent of Dublin, would not be saddled with a huge debt that would place it in a competitively disadvantageous position.

A political deal was done and it was confirmed by the Taoiseach in the Dáil, and in writing by the then Minister, Deputy Brennan, and on the record. The basis of this deal was that the new Cork Airport terminal would be given, on a debt-free basis, to the new airport authority. This would mean that the authority would commence operations without being obliged to shoulder significant debt.

Dublin Airport, which was Aer Rianta's cash cow at the time, agreed to take on the debts attached to both Cork and Shannon and was compensated by being given the asset bases of the Great Southern Hotel Group, which it subsequently sold for €230 million — more than the entire debt attached to Cork Airport — and Aer Rianta International, which owned a number of airports and duty free shops abroad.

Anyone who suggests that this issue is as simple as asking Dublin to pay for Cork does not know what they are talking about. That is not the crux of the matter. A deal was done that was fair to both sides. The Dublin Airport Authority was to take on the debt attached to Cork and Shannon and was more than compensated for doing so by being given the assets to which I have referred.

As a result of lobbying by the Dublin Airport Authority, which has convinced the Cabinet that Cork can shoulder a fair share of its own debt, the most recent proposal from the Government is that Cork should carry €100 million of the debt while the Dublin Airport Authority will carry €120 million. That is a blatant breach of a political commitment made to the Cork Airport Authority and the people of the area. A resolution has not been reached and we have reached a stalemate as regards independence for Cork, Dublin and Shannon. I hope the Minister of State will provide a timescale in respect of the resolution of this matter.

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