Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. The DAA is the body charged with statutory responsibility to manage, operate and develop Dublin and Cork airports. It operates under a clear commercial mandate, is entirely funded from its own resources and receives no Government funding supports. As such, any plans to address the reduction of services at Cork Airport and improve the airport's competitiveness with other airports is a matter for the DAA and Cork Airport management. It is not a matter in which I have a direct role. Also, any decision by an airline on the routes it will serve, or cut, is a matter for that airline. Airlines' decisions will be based on their commercial judgments, taking account of the demand for services.

That said, I am very conscious of the importance of Cork Airport for business and tourism in the Cork region. Since coming into office, I have met the chair and chief executive of the DAA. I visited Cork Airport and met the managing director and some local public representatives to discuss the challenges and opportunities for growth that exist for the airport. I also had the opportunity to meet Cork Chamber of Commerce, and Cork Airport and its future was a prominent topic at the meeting.

As a result, I am well aware of, and concerned at, the continuing decline in passenger numbers at Cork. It was because of this decline that the Cork airport development council was established under an initiative of my predecessor, with the intention of bringing together key local stakeholders to foster a common understanding of issues of concern, identify potential opportunities for growth and to address the operating performance of the airport.

The council is chaired by the chairman of the DAA and comprises senior representatives from the tourism and business sectors in the Cork region, who are actively engaged in achieving the goals set for the council. Furthermore, following the restructuring of the State airports under the State Airports (Shannon Group) Act 2014, Cork Airport was given a new management structure aimed at putting the airport on a sound footing to manage and develop its business on a competitive, commercially driven basis. In addition, two of the members of the DAA board represent Cork, thereby ensuring that issues pertaining to Cork Airport are considered at the highest level.

The new structure is bedding down and I understand that the airport, the DAA and the CADC are focusing their efforts on identifying new route markets and developing new services. There are opportunities, particularly in the tourism sector, to grow incoming passenger numbers in the Cork region. I am aware that the DAA has developed attractive incentive programmes to encourage the introduction of new routes and services. I also understand from Tourism Ireland that there are opportunities under its co-operative marketing initiative to encourage the introduction of new services and to increase capacity on existing routes. Ultimately, however, creating new services and growing inbound tourism depends on the availability of competitive access and ensuring that potential visitors have a reason to visit. Cork Airport, the DAA and the CADC, along with the regional stakeholders, should be pursuing every opportunity to highlight the tourism product that is available in the catchment area of the airport. I am aware that the objective of the DAA is to halt the decline in passenger numbers in the short term and to return Cork Airport to growth in the future. I am confident that the DAA and Cork Airport management, working with the stakeholders in the region, can achieve this objective.

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