Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

No Member can tell me that over the past 40 years the Aer Rianta board has never had a plan for Cork or Shannon Airports. The boards knew every detail, figure, aeroplane, staff member and overtime chit. The board members cannot look me in the eye and tell me they had no plans for Cork and Shannon Airports. No self-respecting plc would not have a business plan. PricewaterhouseCoopers consultants presented a five year financial projection which I shared with the trade unions. Farrell, Grant and Sparks examined them and when the 44th request for business plans was made, Aer Rianta produced ten year business plans for Cork and Shannon Airports. All the details of income, expenditure and depreciation of interest on the debt were there in black and white. This makes four business plans before the real ones are devised, which should be in the hands of the those who will manage the airport authorities. An incoming board cannot be forced to implement a prepared business plan. The board must have an active, dynamic, day-to-day business planning mechanism. The days of the holy grail of a master plan, comfortable in the old regimes of the new EU member states, are gone. Business is more dynamic and no longer operates on such terms.

This legislation is not rushed and premature. It is one year since I announced my policy on Aer Rianta. Do Members want two or three years to pass legislation? What is the definition of "rushing"? One Fine Gael Senator accused me of rushing the Bill and asked why the hurry. He then said he was for the break-up but asked why it took so long for the legislation to come to the House. In the same breath he accused me of rushing the Bill and then delaying it. A year is a long time in public administration. There is no rushing when a policy is laid out in a 12 month timeframe with intensive discussions. It is not fair to leave the airports without certainty through the summer. I am sick and tired of the relentless personalised campaign that is fought on a number of levels. I want to put an end to it and get a summer holiday.