Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I want to share time with Deputy Deirdre Clune. Let us hope, for all our sakes, that we get a slightly better answer than the House got to the previous question. From that answer, one would swear the HSE was playing a blinder. Is it living on the same planet?

I am raising an issue that both Deputy Clune and I have brought up consistently, as indeed has the Acting Chairman, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, for many years. The neglect of Cork Airport by this Government is nothing short of a political scandal and a disgrace. However, this is much more than political because it is hampering the development of Cork Airport, Cork and southern Munster as a region. This is as a result of Cork Airport's inability to grow and plan aggressively and competitively against the airports it needs to compete with independently. It is farcical and dangerous that the board of Cork Airport has no chairman. There has been no conclusive decisions in terms of how the new terminal will be paid for and who will carry the debt. As a result, the board of the Cork Airport Authority, CAA, is not even meeting at the moment.

The Minister said he would appoint a new chairman of the CAA board as a priority, but we have still heard nothing. This is not an issue that will cost the Government any money. It is not a budgetary matter, but it requires political priority and new good people to give leadership in Cork Airport to ensure it can develop in the ambitious manner that the people of Cork want. I appeal to the Minister to make decisions and appointments and to let people in Cork know that the Government is going to stop treating it as a second class airport.

We are expected to compete with Dublin Airport, yet the manager in Cork Airport is an employee of the Dublin Airport Authority, DAA. Every decision, even significant ones taken on a day to day basis at Cork Airport, need to be approved in Dublin. The CAA has sent a business development plan to the DAA for approval. This means that Cork's business competitor needs to approve its business plan. Cork Airport operates with one arm tied behind its back and this is hampering development and investment in Cork. It needs to stop, so please give us some clear answers this evening.

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