Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and, in general, give a broad welcome to the Bill. I find it regrettable that it must deal with the section 33 and superannuation situation. That fact makes it almost impossible for me to support the Bill without an amendment at least, as mentioned by my leader, Senator Darragh O'Brien. My colleague, Senator Averil Power, concurs but regrets that she could not attend because she is in a meeting with the Minister for Education and Science at the moment. However, she is very involved with the workforce and pension group concerned.

We seem to be jumping the gun a bit by debating the Bill today because the expert group is due to report later this month. It would have been nice to see what it had to say and whether progress was made. The pensions issue has generated an awful lot of industrial turmoil. I do not blame the Minister for that because the turmoil has its genesis in issues that long predate the drawing up of the Bill. Clearly, the matter must be dealt through the promulgation of the Bill. That is just one part of it. My side of the House will not be able to support it.

Shannon Airport, as said by Senator O'Neill, is hugely important to the mid-west region. I live less than an hour's drive from the airport and can attest to the fact that it has been a driving force for industry, growth and movement in the mid-west region for all of our lives. Many of the hub industries have been a spin-off from Shannon Airport and they moved into the Limerick and along the Shannon estuary. Many of them would not have been possible were it not for a vibrant Shannon Airport. We, like everybody else, were distressed at the figures returning from Shannon Airport over the past five years when its passenger numbers were down by 61%, its business was going nowhere and a huge debt was created. Therefore, the development in the Bill and the unyoking from the Dublin Airport Authority is good for Shannon, and is welcome. I commend the Minister on doing so.

The period of nil growth and the depression in numbers was not unique to Shannon because Dublin and Cork airports had the same experience. However, the problems were aggravated in Shannon Airport because we fell from a peak of 3.6 million passengers down to 1.3 million over a five-year period. The withdrawal of Ryanair for a period was a serious blow to the airport. Also, the removal of the compulsory stopover created great challenges that are now only being addressed.

The good news is that there was a small upturn in figures last year and the anticipated figures for 2014 are good as well. Therefore, I am happy to commend the board and its chairman, Rose Hynes, on what they have managed to do in a short period and look forward to their further successes.

The Bill terminates the existence of a number of entities, not quite terminates but changes them radically. Some of them had given very good service. In particular, and I shall be parochial, Shannon Development from the Kerry experience was very good. One rarely hears a public representative praising State agencies. However, I am from north Kerry and we had a great experience with Shannon Development. We found it to be hands on, comprised of excellent staff and it dealt particularly well in setting up small and medium sized enterprises. It was brilliant when it had the brief of tourism promotion that was taken from it after a while. We found it easy to deal with as opposed to the IDA which has a bad name in my region because we never see them. I do not know how many potential industrialists were brought to north Kerry in the past couple of years. I can honestly say that we see Santa Claus more regularly and he only arrives once a year. That is a small bit of a problem. I hope that a hands on attention and engagement will not disappear now that we have the new entity of Shannon Group Plc because small can very often be beautiful.

I wish to mention one or two more minor issues. The Minister indicated that when the amalgamations, rationalisation or whatever one wants to call it was going ahead that staff were secure and redeployment would be a priority. Am I right or wrong in saying that this has not happened? I know that the vast majority of staff have been facilitated by being moved into the new organisation, the IDA, local authorities or Fáilte Ireland. However, I have seen that there is a small number of people who remain in limbo and do not know what their jobs will be under the Bill. I ask him to look at the matter. The number concerned may be small but regardless a promise was made regarding their jobs.

My next question for the Minister is on property. Up to now the properties had been vested in Shannon Development, whose business it was to promote them. I refer to the huge land bank of 600 acres located on the southern banks of the Shannon estuary near Ballylongford that has been mooted as a site for a gas project.

Perhaps more particular to this debate, I wish to mention the Kerry Technology Park in Tralee. It has been a huge success and is a fantastic hub. It has led to many spin-offs that have resulted in the creation of many jobs under Shannon Development. I understand that the Institute of Technology Tralee shares a campus with Kerry Technological Park. ITT is greatly engaged and fused with it over the years and would be interested in taking over that side of things. The Minister for Education and Skills does not have a problem with the initiative. Perhaps the Minister present might expedite that matter.

I know that the Cathaoirleach is anxious for me to finish. However, Cork Airport seems to be the poor boy in this situation. The decoupling has suited Dublin and Shannon Airports. The Cork authority seems to be getting wound up. We have no date for a new one and know nothing about the budgetary inputs necessary to get Cork back to normal.

Finally, and in conclusion, I agree with Senator Sean Barrett that Knock Airport, Kerry Airport and the small regional airports are equally important. They are especially important for tourism in both the counties of Mayo and Kerry and in the west and south-west regions. Let us not forget them either. Go raibh maith agat and I thank the Acting Chairman for his latitude.