Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy stated that the airport has a new terminal which was provided at a cost of over €200 million.

The Minister understands that the board of the Cork Airport Authority also engaged consultants to examine further the issue of the Cork debt. Clearly, the debt issue is crucial to the business planning process and there will have to be agreement on this point between the Cork Airport Authority and the Dublin Airport Authority before the Cork business plan can be completed and submitted to the two Ministers.

The Government's position is that the funding of the new terminal and other works at Cork Airport will have to take account, not only of what is commercially and financially feasible for Cork Airport, but also what is commercially and financially feasible for the Dublin Airport Authority. If the Cork Airport Authority is to achieve autonomy in the foreseeable future, it will have to accept responsibility for a reasonable portion of the outstanding debt in return for the substantial assets to be transferred to it on separation.

As already stated, the agreement of the DAA will be central to the conclusion of the business planning processes for both Shannon and Cork.

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