Cullen draws fire over airport debt issue
Labour Senator Brendan Ryan accused the minister of making a "hot air speech" and ignoring commitments made by his predecessor, Seamus Brennan.
Under the proposed separation, Dublin, Cork and Shannon will become independent of each other, but remain under State ownership. Presently, Dublin controls its sister airports.
In July 2003, when announcing the separation plan, Mr Brennan promised: "When I establish the independent Shannon and Cork authorities on a statutory basis, they will both commence business free of debt.
"The existing debts associated with both airports, including the debt associated with the major new investment programme at Cork, will not be assigned to the new companies but will remain with Dublin Airport."
The investment programme referred to was the new terminal for Cork, the final cost of which will reach more than €160m.
But yesterday, Mr Cullen said it was always Government policy Cork would have to account for some of its debts.
He quoted from a speech his predecessor made in June 2004 in which Mr Brennan said: "A portion of the Cork Airport assets will remain in Aer Rianta and will be subject to a finance lease between Aer Rianta and the Cork Airport Authority (CAA)."
Mr Cullen said it was clear from that speech Government policy had always been that Cork would have to pay something.
"To suggest that I have suddenly decided to do something utterly different to my predecessor is untrue. To suggest that the Government policy in this area has changed is utterly untrue. All of this was set out with great clarity," he remarked.
He also said one of his first appointments as Transport Minister was with the board of the Cork Airport Authority, and he had made this position "crystal clear" to them.
However, PD senator John Minihan warned Cork's future would be threatened by the Government's failure to honour Mr Brennan's promise.
"If saddled with a significant portion of debt, [Cork] will have to increase charges to service the debt, airlines will not open new routes and existing routes will be threatened."
He believed that the Dublin Airport Authority and Mr Cullen's own department were "obsessed with Dublin Airport and its future at the expense of Cork and Shannon."
But Mr Cullen made clear that, while Cork would be facing repayments of some kind, they would not be excessive.
