Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

This development will impact not just on the airport and the general Cork area but also on the regional economy in which it will be a major driver of growth. The new terminal should be seen as a key component in delivering on Cork's status as a gateway city under the national spatial strategy.

This airport investment complements the other major transport infrastructural projects that the Government has earmarked for Cork under Transport 21. This includes the railway in Midleton, the strategic area plan, the investment in public transport, road transport etc., all of which will greatly benefit the interconnections with Cork, as at Shannon and all the developments taking place there too.

I acknowledge the efforts going on at Shannon. I welcome the fact that the Labour Relations Commission is meeting with people there, which I hope reaches a positive conclusion for all the stakeholders in order that we can move on. That will be an important contribution to the success of Shannon Airport. Some of the Senators are right, the opportunities for both airports are significant on the European, transatlantic and other long-haul routes.

The previous Minister said that it would take a sequential effort to distribute and give these airports their independence. The confusion arises because Cork Airport wants to speed up the process. It is right to want its independence now because it wants to start its own planning but that requires working within the circumstances available. We can wait seven to ten years if we want, until all the distributed reserves are available and then move out but that would be the wrong decision. We must place this debate about Cork in the context of what exactly was said rather than bits extrapolated from what was said.

I believe there is a very good formula on the table. I have articulated that to the sub-committee, as Members from Cork will be aware. I met them again recently. We are having some final figures examined. I am aware there are concerns in Cork about the charging regime and legitimate questions are being asked, as is the case on some of the other issues. Senators Dooley, Daly and others have raised issues on the Shannon aspects and how they are to be resolved but they are all resolvable. We are all mature people and we are all business people. The people on the board understand what they want to do.

As a regional Minister I want a strong Cork Airport and a strong Shannon Airport. Equally, I am mindful that we need a strong Dublin Airport. It is the major gateway into the country and we must move ahead in that respect. Between €1.2 billion to €1.5 billion must be found for developments at the airport. We have an unsustainable position in an airport now trying to carry in excess of 21 million passengers, and that figure will increase to 30 million. Achieving a balance in all of these issues can deliver a very good outcome.

Senators should accept that small regional airports have debt but they can manage it. The small corner shop at the end of the road has some kind of debt but it manages it. We must be realistic as to what we are saying. There is no question that we can send Cork Airport off to independence without any real debt. We can put an arrangement in place between the two boards. That will be very strong from Cork Airport's point of view in terms of its ability to develop its commercial mandate, as we can with Shannon, but equally it will allow Dublin, working within the rules and regulations and the law of the land, to develop as well. When we take all those issues into consideration, there is the prospect of a very good outcome for Cork, Shannon and Dublin airports. We should all focus on that and get on with it.

I agree with the assessment of people on the Cork board to whom I have spoken that rather than wait, as originally anticipated, for a number of years to take its independence, the opportunity in aviation development presents itself now and let us find a mechanism to do it more quickly. I agree with that and I have told them they are right. That is a good judgment call but to do that we must consider how to manage these issues in a much shorter timeframe than might have been the case previously when the Bill was introduced.

It is in everybody's interest to get a good outcome. I am in a position to deliver a very good outcome for Cork, Shannon and Dublin airports which will leave them free to focus on the real challenge — developing services for their passengers with the airlines into those airports to strengthen them for the future. That is where we all want to go.