Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

After ??5th December, 2012?? to add the following:
??provided that Aer Rianta International is incorporated in the new, independent Shannon Airport Authority on or before 31st December 2012??.

As we all know Shannon Airport is an institution in the mid-west region. Shannon Airport and the Shannon Foynes Port Company are the two major infrastructural hubs of the mid-west and we fully support anything the Minister of State might do to enhance and develop both facilities. I accept a great deal of what the Minister of State has said and commend him on the basis that action of some sort needed to be taken with Shannon. The Minister of State just read out the figures and as we clearly did not have the option of doing nothing, I support the Minister of State's initiative.

We believe our amendment is valid and will underpin what the Minister of State is trying to do. My party's bona fides on Shannon Airport is well established. A Fianna Fáil Government conceived and delivered that project back at a time when a very senior Fine Gael Member said that the rabbits would be playing around Rineanna before there would be flights landing there - how wrong he was. Last month Fianna Fáil introduced the Shannon Airport (Amendment) Bill, which provides for much of what the Minister of State proposes with the exception that we wanted a statutory link between Shannon Airport and Aer Rianta International. By incorporating Aer Rianta International into the Shannon Airport equation, the Minister of State's forecasts, which he has said are risky, would be underpinned by the buoyant revenues being generated by Aer Rianta International, which last year returned a profit of in excess of ¤30 million.

The Government's plan is based on the fairly risky proposition that Shannon Airport can increase traffic in the European and UK markets by winning back traffic it has lost to Kerry and Knock. I have a problem with that hypothesis on two grounds. First, the projected growth is very difficult to achieve. There is some chance of achieving it with the security that incorporating Aer Rianta International would bring, particularly for investors and potential investors. Second, much as we are in favour of Shannon Airport being developed, we are not in favour of any further downgrading of our regional airports such as Knock, Sligo and Kerry. Robbing Peter to pay Paul never worked and will not work here either. Representatives of the executive of Knock Airport, who appeared before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and Communications last week, expressed very legitimate fears. While they were in no way jealous of the project for Shannon, they want a level playing field, of which the Minister of State will need to be cognisant if this is to be a success.

We believe the timing of this proposal is all wrong. Given the state of the economy, there could hardly be a more difficult time to embark on a project such as this. Shannon has been hit badly lately by the reduction of the profile of Ryanair, and the downturn in traffic and consumer spending generally. There is no secure guarantee for Shannon Airport in this motion. The more we can protect it and ring-fence it with Aer Rianta-type support the better the chance of it being viable.

We are positive about much of the proposal. People from the mid-west region of Clare, Limerick and north Kerry, from where I come, welcome the commitment in the motion to create up to 850 jobs in the in new international aviation centres in Shannon Airport and that this may eventually grow to 3,500 jobs. This is good news and I wish the Minister of State a fair wind - if he can achieve that, it would be a major success and we are not in any way negative about that. However, I regret that SIPTU felt the need to issue a statement on the lack of consultation that had taken place. The workforce there has legitimate fears and concerns. I am somewhat mollified by the Minister of State's statement that SIPTU will have a representative on the steering group, which is good. It is always wise to consult first especially where the good will of the unions is needed.

I will finish on a local issue. According to the Minister of State, the remit of the new company will be to work on "a suite of aviation-related industries located in the lands contiguous to the airport". What about the land assets that are not contiguous to the airport, such as a massive land bank in Ballylongford, County Kerry, next to the Shannon Estuary? We also have other assets such as Kerry Technology Park in Tralee. Shannon Development is now being broken up and I wish it well. It has a specific brief to work on aviation-related industry. Who will promote non-aviation industries such as the gas-oil refinery in Tarbert and the ongoing successful projects in Kerry Technology Park? The focus will be shifted over which we have concerns.

We will be pressing our amendment but that aside, I wish the Minister of State well.