Labour wants airports report published
After revealing details of a confidential Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PWC) report into how Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports would fare as independent companies, Labour leader Pat Rabbitte called on the Government to publish it to allow independent analysis.
According to the report, findings of the consultant's report Shannon would be unviable as a single entity while Cork would suffer substantial losses.
Mr Rabbitte insisted the report was concrete proof that the Government's proposals for splitting Aer Rianta into three separate companies would lead to serious annual losses for Shannon and Cork Airports, even after Dublin absorbed all current debts.
However, Minister Seamus Brennan insisted his proposals to break up Aer Rianta would be successful. "If you left the debt with Cork and with Shannon they would not be viable and that's the very reason we decided we would remove the debt from Shannon and Cork so that in fact they would be viable," he said.
Although the Labour Party declined to release the report, Mr Rabbitte said Mr Brennan had got it wrong.
"It is nonsense for the department to suggest all the issues in the report are taken account of by the decision to consolidate existing debt. The PWC analysis is based on the additional operating costs associated with stand-alone status," he said.
"The range of issues highlighted demands far more detailed consideration and a detailed and substantiated business case which we have consistently called for," Mr Rabbitte continued.
Unions, who called off strike action on Monday and are preparing to enter talks with department officials tomorrow, said the report proved what they had always been fearful of. SIPTU's Michael Halpenny said "It appears to support what we have been saying all along, that this is fundamentally a flawed proposal."
A spokesman for Aer Rianta declined to comment saying the information was of a confidential nature.
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