Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

The Cabinet had decided that the business plans would be unfolded in April 2005 and that was to be the end of the process. However, we are now discussing the legislation before us today without such business plans being in place. That appears to be a backward approach. It is as the Minister said like putting the cart before the horse. The legislation was rushed through the Dáil and is now being forced upon the Seanad even though serious concerns have emerged in terms of its financial implications with banks likely to seek higher repayments for outstanding loans as Aer Rianta will then be considered a series of separate companies as opposed to one.

This issue was raised last month by the chief executive of Aer Rianta, Margaret Sweeney. Yet, the information was only made public in recent days. There is concern that if this were to happen Aer Rianta could end up insolvent. I am aware the Minister dealt with this matter in his speech but I would appreciate as would many other Members if we could obtain the legal advice given to him in this regard. While the Minister has assured the House such a situation will not arise, we would appreciate being given this information which should be published at this stage to remove any uncertainty. The Minister gave many hints about who may have leaked the document and mentioned the fact that he found the leaking of it very distasteful. I urge him to investigate who leaked it. Was it leaked by someone in Aer Rianta, from within the Minister's party or from within the Civil Service? The leak is doing a great disservice to all concerned and it is in everyone's interest to find out who leaked the document and why it happened.

There is a drafting error in the legislation which will allow for the break-up of Aer Rianta into three different airport authorities. This mistake could require another amendment to the Bill. While the Minister clarified this point in his speech, there is no information available to prove that what he said is correct. It would be helpful to everyone in the House if the information was published. I presume the Minister received legal advice from the Attorney General's office, which should be made public. My party will table an amendment tomorrow in this regard and, if the Minister accepts it, the Bill will have to go back to the Dáil. Obviously this will be impossible because the Dáil will be in recess until 29 September. If the amendment is accepted, will the Minister ensure the Dáil is recalled during the recess or will he wait until the end of September to deal with the issue? If he waits until the end of September, how can the new board take over from Aer Rianta? There are severe implications in this regard.

The Bill affects 2,352 full-time staff at the three airports. If one includes subsidiaries, this figure increases to 3,387. The Bill also affects the travelling public. The functions currently carried out by Aer Rianta, including operations co-ordination, maintenance, cleaning, security, fire-fighting facilities and management, information services, aviation fuel sales and car parking, directly affect passengers. There is grave concern that if Aer Rianta is broken up as proposed, additional capital expenditure will have to be covered by increasing landing charges. Passengers might face increased landing charges of up to €9.50 following the break-up as opposed to the current €5.29.

The Minister is being grossly unfair to the House today by expecting us to take an extremely important decision which will affect directly thousands of workers and millions of the travelling public. Why will he not make available to Members the PricewaterhouseCoopers study? This report, which was given to SIPTU and ICTU, failed to show that Shannon and Cork Airports could survive as viable stand-alone entities and acknowledges that additional capital expenditure will have to be met by increases in landing charges. The report also states that €36 million of capital expenditure will be incurred in Shannon between 2005 and 2008 and adds that it can be financed by the operating profits of the business. The report states that airlines based in Dublin Airport could face an increase of 50% or more in airport charges if the break-up of Aer Rianta goes ahead. It warns that Dublin Airport may need to sell off ancillary assets in future to meet its debts because the debts of Cork and Shannon Airports will be transferred to Dublin. The authors suggest a new low-cost model for Shannon, where the airport can take advantage of a new "open skies" policy likely to be in place by 2007-08.

The Minister for Transport has consistently stalled in regard to national aviation policy. He previously promised that legislation on the break-up of Aer Rianta would be moved prior to the Dáil summer recess of 2003. Then it was supposed to be moved prior to the Christmas recess of 2003 and, finally, prior to the Easter recess of 2004. We are now debating it in July 2004. The Department of Transport has been sitting on 13 separate expressions of interest for the building of a second competing terminal at Dublin Airport for more than 18 months, with no sign of a decision being taken. As a result, Ireland is losing out on increased passenger numbers which could be realised, and Dublin Airport is facing overcrowding problems.

Fine Gael is not opposed to the break-up of the Aer Rianta monopoly, but we need to see business plans which support the view that it will be good for the airports involved. This evidence has so far not been forthcoming. The fact that no documentation has yet entered the public domain is worrying and places all concerned at a grave disadvantage. There is a huge public deficit of information in regard to strategies and plans for new entities, capital expenditure and investment plans, management team and operational plans, nature of ongoing relationships within Aer Rianta operations, financial projections, cash and debt management and pricing policies and interface with the regulator.

Any restructuring proposals for Aer Rianta must address the non-transparent subsidies between the three airports, the different priorities of the airports, the serious constraints on the availability of capital and the inefficient allocation of capital between the airports. Because it is a plc, there are revenue reserve issues, a distribution of assets issue and issues regarding ownership of assets. The Minister appears to be under siege from many people in this debacle. One suspects he has not got the full support of the Taoiseach, who has consistently said he believes Aer Rianta must remain State-owned, and he is opposed to privatisation. The Taoiseach has also said he views the maintenance of all jobs at Aer Rianta as essential.

Senator O'Rourke's comments on national radio on Sunday were damning in the extreme. However, her statement that she still intends to support the Bill made a mockery of her earlier claim that the Bill was rushed, premature and not good legislation. She is in a unique position to either abstain, vote for or against the Bill. I will quote the example of the former Taoiseach, Liam Cosgrave, who voted against his own Government when he had strong feelings against a certain Bill. In more modern times, Robin Cook resigned from Cabinet, which is perhaps an option to the Leader.