Brendan Ryan (Labour)

Among the qualities given to me by the good Lord is my sense of humour, which has survived in spite of the vicissitudes of politics. I am also an engineer and, therefore, comfortable dealing with numbers. Fortunately, having spent long and tedious hours here dealing with legislation, I am also comfortable dealing with legal matters.

When I hear a Minister give a speech comprised of hot air alleging that the Opposition's argument is nothing but hot air, I tend to heckle but also listen very carefully. The Minister said essentially that there was no difference between his position and that of his predecessor. According to a statement dated 10 July 2003 on the Department of Transport's website, the former Minister stated that 12 months from 10 July 2003, Shannon, Cork and Dublin airports would be established as fully independent authorities. He also stated that he would establish independent airport authorities in Cork and Shannon Airport on a statutory basis which would commence business free of debt. According to the former Minister's statement, the existing debts associated with both airports, including the debt associated with the major new investment programme at Cork, would not be assigned to the new companies but would remain with Dublin Airport and absorbing the debts for Shannon and Cork would not place an unreasonable additional burden on Dublin Airport.

The current Minister for Transport attempted to deal with this issue in his speech here today. In a copy of his speech received by Members, the Minister acknowledged that during the early stages in the airport restructuring process, it was intended that both the independent Cork and Shannon airports would commence operations on a debt-free basis. However, he omitted to deliver this part of his speech to the House. Perhaps, we persuaded, converted or confused him but he did not deliver this part of his speech.

The Minister then went on to state that this would always be subject to determining the optimum mechanisms for allocating airport assets among the three airports in compliance with the capital maintenance rules and other provisions of the Companies Acts. This provision came later and was not part of the former Minister's original announcement. Later in his speech, the Minister stated that an adjustment to the approach was required as the matter was examined further, in consultation with the Department's advisers, before the State Airports Bill 2004 was debated in the Houses of the Oireachtas.

On Second Stage of the State Airports Bill in the Dáil in June 2004, the former Minister stated that under the terms of the restructuring, both airports would commence operations debt free. This meant that a debt of €70 million would be removed from Shannon Airport and approximately €120 million from Cork Airport. This is where I obtained my mythological figure of €120 million, which the Minister informed me was wrong although he neglected to tell me the correct figure.