Are we relying on lady luck?
The son of the bête noire of the opposition masses was ironically praised by these parties for representing the true spirit of Fianna Fáil.
Mr Haughey earned this adulation for his criticism of the rushing through of the legislation allowing for the break-up of Aer Rianta.
“In my view the case for the break-up has not been clearly made,” he said in Dáil Éireann, as Transport Minister Seamus Brennan sat directly in front of him on the Government benches.
The argument that Mr Brennan was pressing ahead too quickly with the break-up gained momentum as the week progressed.
Without a business plan in place to show how each of the three airports will perform in their own rights once let loose, there is ample reason to be less than confident in Mr Brennan’s master plan.
However it would be wrong to suggest the minister has no support for his proposal. At the end of the day, the Cabinet has signed off on the plan and the legislation required to facilitate the break up will be passed next week.
While it is difficult to see how Dublin can’t but continue to grow over the coming years, it would seem illogical to allow policy to be continually dictated with the capital’s interests always to the forefront.
Never a man to be taken lightly, Senator Martin Mansergh raised the point that from a regional development perspective, the unchecked growth of Dublin airport could not be of optimum benefit to the country.
Speaking on the broader issue of the impact of decentralisation on rural Ireland, the former Taoiseach’s adviser said he had an open mind on Aer Rianta but suggested it would be better to distribute economic activity more equitably around the State.
“Is it right that up to 90% of all Irish air traffic goes through Dublin Airport?” he said.
This was a theme picked up upon by FF TD Maire Hoctor from Tipperary North as she pointed out that Dublin Airport has an average of 45,000 passengers a day and up to 80,000 in the peak Summer period.
Yet congestion in Dublin is appalling. There was no reason for people from the mid-west to contribute to that bottleneck when there was a state-of-the-art, under-utilised and under-capacity facility at Shannon Airport, she said.
Over-emphasis on Dublin is not just a problem for Shannon, but also for Cork airport as FF TD Batt O’Keeffe said.
“Cork Airport is third in line when it comes to infrastructural development and when it comes to a marketing budget and capital projects. “Rather than being the hind tit in terms of the three State airports, Cork airport has shown, with meagre funding, that people want to use it,” he said.
These sentiments were echoed by his FF Cork South-Central colleague John Dennehy who said Dublin ruled the roost and Cork didn’t get preferential treatment.
“Cork Airport has never had an artificial prop. Airlines have never been forced to land there to use the airport and that is the key to its success,” he said.
Similar to their nervous counterparts in Dublin, Batt O’Keeffe and John Dennehy have a lot to lose if the separation of the three airports goes awry.
Yet these two backbench TDs have considerable and well founded faith in the ability of the airport on their home turf to not only survive but to thrive in the cut and thrust of a competitive market.
In essence the break-up of Aer Rianta, if it actually goes ahead - and there are still significant caveats attached - will call the bluff of those who argued that Cork and Shannon would do better standing alone and making their own decisions about the future.
Making these airports the masters of their own destinies will effectively make or break them in the long run.
It’s a risky strategy and it would help if the hand was stronger than merely a hunch of Seamus Brennan’s that it will all work out fine.
With any luck, the business plans will indeed confirm that cutting the links will be of mutual benefit to all three airports. But luck shouldn’t be part of the equation when dealing with crucial pieces of infrastructure.
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