Derek McDowell (Labour)

I move amendment No. 18:

In page 9, lines 43 to 50 and in page 10, lines 1 to 23, to delete subsections (1) to (4) inclusive.

These amendments seek to explore what will happen during the interim period and where in essence the power lies. There is a difficulty built into the mechanism set out by the Minister in that for the interim period of nine months, the Dublin Airport authority will have big brother-type responsibility for Cork and Shannon Airports.

Amendment No. 19 seeks clarification on what will happen in circumstances where it is the view of the Dublin Airport authority that a particular transfer of responsibility to Cork or Shannon Airports may be required under the Bill in terms of autonomy and so on, but is not in the corporate interests of Aer Rianta or the Dublin Airport authority as it will be known in the future. The Bill must clarify what will be the overriding responsibility of the Dublin Airport authority at that stage. Is its primary responsibility the normal fiduciary responsibility of a board to look after the corporate interests of the Dublin Airport authority or does it have an overriding responsibility, legal requirement or mandate to give effect to the restructuring and, in effect, do things which in normal circumstances the board would not choose to do? In other words, would it divest itself of assets or give to the new companies assets which are the primary responsibility of the board of the Dublin Airport authority in the meantime?

This dilemma for the board arises because of the structure used. It is important the board knows whether it is to act in the normal interests of the company or whether its primary responsibility is to deliver the Minister's restructuring.