Derek McDowell (Labour)

It is a small country. People choose to go to the nearest airport, by and large, or they use the service which suits them best. It is rare that they are attracted to a different airport because of a difference in price or because the lounge is a little bigger. I do not think that happens because they typically choose to go to the nearest airport in most circumstances. There may be exceptions. People involved in a particular class of business travel may seek certain obvious geographical benefits, or a service being provided in one airport may not be provided at another airport. I accept that it may happen, but in the vast bulk of cases we are not talking about competition in a realistic way.

I do not have any difficulty with a publicly owned monopoly being in charge of our airports because it has worked well over the years. Senator Ross may use the term "dinosaur" and other pejorative phrases to refer to Aer Rianta, but it has been a successful company. It has done us proud on a national level, by meeting our needs, and internationally. No semi-State company, with the exception of the ESB, has invested so successfully abroad or been so profitable in its general operations. Aer Rianta has been very successful in its operations at home, by and large, by meeting needs as they arose.

If one were to criticise Aer Rianta, one could say that investment was often too slow and demand was often not met as quickly as it might have been. When demand was met and investment was made, it was sometimes more gold-plated than it needed to be. The company has done what we asked it to do, by and large, using the resources we gave it. It has done well. We are entitled to be proud of the manner in which it has discharged its responsibilities.

I do not mean to say that some aspects of Aer Rianta cannot be improved. My party is in favour of giving it the extra impetus it needs to improve. It is clear that one such aspect is Shannon Airport. Many tourists who come to this country end up in the west at some stage of their visit. I accept it is surprising that relatively few of them choose to fly directly, by charter or scheduled flight, to that region. We have to acknowledge that many of the solutions to that problem are not within the gift of Aer Rianta. Senator Dooley referred clearly to shortcomings in the infrastructure in the immediate vicinity of Shannon Airport. I think the Minister accepts that problems exist in that regard. There is no rail link, the bus link is not very good and although the roads are not improving, they are not great, particularly when one is trying to get to the other side of Limerick. I hope all the problems will be resolved, but the point I am trying to make is that such changes are not within the gift of Aer Rianta.

Similarly, Aer Rianta cannot change the open skies policy because it is clearly a matter for negotiation between the European Commission, with little input from Ireland, and the US authorities. It is well outside the scope of Aer Rianta. An independent company operating from Shannon will have no impact on it. While one intuitively feels there is scope for improvement at Shannon, I do not see how a totally independent company, as opposed to independent management which takes a certain amount of independent initiative, will improve business at Shannon. The Minister has failed utterly to persuade me and many other people that such an improvement will be achieved.

The issue of business plans is critical. The Bill places an obligation on boards to draw up business plans before 30 April 2005. Crucially, it does not seem to contemplate what will happen if a satisfactory business plan is not produced. Nobody doubts that a business plan that says all sorts of wonderful things and makes appealing conjectures can be drawn up. For example, such a plan might say that Shannon Airport can become a low-cost hub. Any of us could write that in the morning. We doubt whether it is possible to come up with a persuasive business plan that identifies realistically where the niches exist and sets out a way in which they can be filled.

What happens if, in nine months or a year, a plan is produced that contains a measure of gobbledegook? What if we get a two-page report that states there has to be scope for more charter flights or suggests that Shannon Airport should be a low-cost hub? Such a plan would not be persuasive, frankly. Will we be able to go back in such circumstances? I do not think we will because the Bill does not seem to provide for it. It simply requires the production of a plan — it does not say that the plan should be good or persuasive. It does not say that the plan needs to amount to very much — all it says is that there needs to be a plan. I cannot help thinking that the Bill's requirement for a business plan to be published by April 2005 is no more than a sop. It is intended to secure, in so far as it has done, the agreement of our colleagues in the trade union movement. It serves no other realistic purpose.

As Senator Browne said at the start of the debate, we are putting the cart before the horse. We have started a process, but we do not know where it is going. That would be bad enough in itself, but it is also the case that many people do not trust the Minister and the Government. I do not believe the Minister when he says the Government intends that the airports will remain in public ownership. A number of Government Members, including those from Senator Morrissey's party, do not want the regional airports, or any airports, to stay in public ownership. The Minister's assurances in that regard do not persuade me and I imagine they do not persuade many people who regard themselves as stakeholders in the industry or the existing company.

The history of pier D and the second terminal at Dublin Airport has not helped to persuade me that what we have in this Bill is remotely close to the full picture. The Minister might say he intends that the second terminal will be run by Aer Rianta or the Dublin Airport authority. He might tell us that it will be independent or he might propose to put it out to tender. He could say he expects that Dublin Airport and the other airports will be in private ownership within five or eight years. He might suggest that there will be competition between the publicly and privately owned terminals. If we had the full picture, we could make a realistic effort to assess it. We do not have the full picture, however, or anything remotely close to it. We are being asked to engage in an act of faith and to take a leap in the dark. I do not believe we should do that.