Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 43 and 75 together.

I announced on 22 December 2008 that I would be deferring a decision on the separation of the three State airports until 2011. Pending a decision on separation, the boards and management of Cork and Shannon Airports carry out devolved responsibilities in respect of the day-to-day management, development and promotion of their respective airports, with appropriate accountability to the Dublin Airport Authority. Under these new governance arrangements the Chairmen of the Cork Airport Authority, CAA and Shannon Airport Authority, SAA, have been appointed to the DAA board and DAA senior executives have been appointed to the boards of the CAA and SAA.

The recently published 2009 DAA annual report and accounts indicate that DAA has been adversely affected by the slow down in air travel due to the economic recession. As compared to the previous year, both Cork and Shannon in 2009 experienced a fall of in passenger traffic of 15% and 11.8 %, respectively.

It would be premature to speculate on any decisions to be taken in 2011 on airport separation having regard to the current commercial environment facing the three State airports. In addition to exercising my shareholder and policy responsibilities as regards the State airports, I continue to keep the position regarding the financial sustainability precondition for airport separation under review in my Department.

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