Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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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.

Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I hope the Minister of State's response will not be littered with references, which we constantly hear on this side, to the effect that this is a matter for the Dublin Airport Authority. It is not a matter for the Dublin Airport Authority but for the Minister for Transport, who is responsible for ensuring, as part of his remit that there is balanced regional development. This means ensuring that Cork Airport is put on a sound footing so that it can move forward as it wants to, on an independent basis — leaving aside the debt issue which has not been resolved. In 2004, the State Airports Act stated that the three airports, Shannon, Cork and Dublin, would be developed as three independent authorities. That still has not happened and there is the farcical situation where the CAA has been left without a chairman since the former incumbent resigned from the board in April this year. Any decision that has to be taken at Cork Airport, as Deputy Coveney has outlined, is referred to the DAA. The e-mails and notepaper of the CAA's chief executive is headed "Dublin Airport Authority". That situation is absolutely ridiculous since the two airports are in competition. Let Cork get on with it and make decisions for itself based on what is best for the airport and the region. The Minister should appoint a chairman and let a business plan be adopted so that Cork may move forward and do the job it is supposed to do.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputies Coveney and Clune for raising this issue. The State Airports Act 2004 provides the framework for the establishment of Shannon and Cork as independent airports. As part of the airport restructuring process, the boards of Cork and Shannon Airports are required to prepare business plans for eventual separation. All three airport business plans have to be co-ordinated by the Dublin Airport Authority for eventual approval by the Minister for Transport and the Minister for Finance.

Among the requirements to be satisfied in advance of separation is the need to ensure the financial sustainability of all three State airports. It has always been the Government's position that the resolution of the debt issue at Cork Airport would have to ensure that the debt burden Cork would undertake would be a manageable one for it and would form a reasonable basis for Cork Airport's autonomy, without in any way putting at risk its commercial future. However, it is also the Government's position that the sharing of the Cork debt, much of which by the way was incurred in financing the new terminal and other infrastructural works at Cork Airport, to be borne by both the Cork and Dublin Airport Authorities will have to take account not only of what is commercially and financially feasible for Cork Airport, but also for the Dublin Airport Authority.

In order to break the logjam between the DAA and the CAA on the equity of the debt, the Minister for Transport, Deputy Noel Dempsey, appointed Mr. Peter Cassells to mediate between the two parties with a view to reaching an agreement acceptable to both. Mr. Cassells's conclusions and recommendations were the outcome of that dialogue with both parties. The recommendation is that the CAA takes responsibility for debt of €113 million in return for the transfer of net assets of €220 million on separation. The board of the CAA has accepted this recommendation. This is a positive step which will enable the finalisation of realistic business plans, taking account of the Cassells recommendations in the case of Cork. The Minister has already received the Cork and Shannon business plans and he expects shortly to receive a finalised commentary on those plans by the DAA when it submits its own plan under the Act. He would expect the DAA's commentary to address recent trends in the aviation market, the challenges facing the State airports and the financial and operational aspects of restructuring.

As the Deputy is aware, Mr. Joe Gantly stepped down from his role as chairman of Cork Airport with effect from 1 August last and it is hoped to fill that vacancy in the near future.