Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Senator O’Sullivan. Section 30 provides for the dissolution of Cork Airport Authority plc on a day to be appointed, by order, by the Minister. It also provides power for the Minister to re-establish Cork Airport Authority in the future. Cork would be in the top 20 airports in the UK and has been affected much less by the recession than Shannon. I support the Minister’s plans for Shannon. So, why can Cork not have its independence?

I am slightly biased by the fact that I was born in Cork. However, I think we are quite capable of running an airport about the same size as Belfast City Airport, Cardiff, Leeds-Bradford or East Midlands. There are many UK airports the same size as Cork which run themselves. It is almost like sending down colonial governors from the Dublin Airport Authority to give the benefit of their knowledge to the running of Cork. Cork Airport should be making its own decisions. I do not like the idea of the airport run as a colony of Dublin.

I accept there was an unnecessary terminal built costing €180 million. The receipts from the sale of the Great Southern Hotels, a sale for which I compliment the Department and others involved as they were sold at the top of the market and the taxpayer and society did well from them, came to €265 million. That money could have been used to write-off Cork’s debt and set it up as an independent entity. It is the second city in the State and the airports in many European cities are not run by their national airport authorities. My first forays into writing about this were to persuade the UK Government to abolish the British Airports Authority which it ultimately did. Having airports compete would be beneficial rather than having Cork in this dependency state with Dublin.

Who was responsible for the terminal at the airport? Some future economic historians will point out from the Cork point of view that free capital was distributed from Dublin and it seemed like a good idea at the time. We know when Cork and Dublin were connected by motorway, car and bus travel became more practical and attractive, meaning bookings for flights between the cities plummeted and now no flights are provided. There is still, however, a role for Cork to connect the southern province to the UK and mainland Europe. I would like to see the governance of the airport devolved to its own airport authority and the people of Cork. It is much more in line with how we think about these things than to have it as some kind of appendage to the Dublin Airport Authority. I am opposed to this section.